Major Depressive Disorder Exhibits Lower Choroidal Vessel Density

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) exhibits lower choroidal vessel density. A new study, published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, compared choroidal vessel density with healthy controls (HCs) and found it to be lower in MDD patients. This suggests abnormalities in choroidal vasculature in individuals with MDD. Utilizing UWF-OCTA and automatic quantification in the choroidal vessel layer, the study revealed significantly lower supranasal and temporal CVV, temporal CVI, and supranasal and temporal CSV in MDD patients. Enclosed OCTA images illustrated the lower CVV in MDD compared to normal controls. These findings contribute to the growing interest in non-invasively, rapidly, and inexpensively detecting pathophysiologic mechanisms and biomarkers underlying neuropsychiatric disorders via the choroid.

(CVI: choroidal vessel volume index, CVV: choroidal vessel volume, CSI: choroidal stroma volume index, CSV: choroidal stroma volume)

The study utilized a 400kHz speed swept-source OCTA (BMizar, TowardPi Medical). High-resolution OCT-angiography of the medium and large choroidal vessel layer in the entire fundus (120 degrees) could be observed and quantified through our proprietary algorithm.

The study was authored by Dr. Yan Wang and others, in collaboration with Prof. Xiaohong Yang's team from Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital.

Original text link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165032723012089