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Retinal nerve fibre layer thickness as a neurological dysfunction marker in fibromyalgia patients
Author(s) -
CARAMELLO ÁLVAREZ CM,
ASCASO FJ,
GARCíAMARTíN E,
HERRERA L,
HERRERA P,
GARCíACAMPAYO J,
PABLO L,
CRISTóBAL JA
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
acta ophthalmologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.534
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1755-3768
pISSN - 1755-375X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-3768.2013.f082.x
Subject(s) - fibromyalgia , medicine , nerve fiber layer , retinal , ophthalmology , optical coherence tomography , retina , neuroscience , psychology
Purpose To assess retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness in patients affected by fibromyalgia. Methods 39 patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia and 39 age‐matched healthy controls underwent a complete neuropsychiatric and ophthalmologic examination including best‐corrected visual acuity, contrast sensitivity test, and the new Nsite Axonal Analytics application of the spectral domain Optical Coherence Tomography (SD‐OCT). Statistical analysis was conducted to compare RNFL thicknesses between patients and controls. Results RNFL thickness was significantly reduced in fibromyalgia patients (94.2±16.8) compared with healthy controls (102.9±10.2) in the mean values (p=0.007, Student t test), the ratio (cases=0.9±0.3, controls=1.1±0.3, p=0.022), the superonasal (cases=99.3±20.3, controls=116.4±16.7, p<0.001), inferonasal (cases=96.7±28.5, controls=126.2±25.9, p<0.001) and inferotemporal quadrant (cases=134±26.9, controls=144.7±19, p=0.048). Conclusion Fibromyalgia patients showed a reduction of peripapillary RNFL thickness evaluated by SD‐OCT. These findings, which have never been document in patients with fibromyalgia, suggest that neuronal degeneration could be present in the retina of fibromyalgia patients as previously observed in other neurodegenerative disorders.