The urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin level in patients with central serous chorioretinopathy and its correlation with choroidal vasculature.

PURPOSE: To investigate the changes in melatonin secretion levels and its association with choroidal vasculature parameters in patients with central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC).

METHODS

In this study, 30 male patients were enrolled diagnosed with CSC and 30 healthy male controls. The choroidal vasculature system of all participants were assessed using ultra-widefield swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography (UWF-SS-OCTA). Specifically, we measured choroidal vascular volume (CVV), choroidal vascularity index (CVI), and choroidal thickness (CT). Additionally, the levels of urinary 6-sulfatoxymelatonin(6-SMT) in participants were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Finally, the correlations between normalized 6-SMT and choroidal vascular parameters were evaluated in CSC and controls.

RESULTS

The levels of urinary normalized 6-SMT in CSC patients (24.8, 20.2 - 28.1) were significantly lower than the control group (36.1, 30.0 - 45.2, P < 0.001). Compared with the control group, CSC patients exhibited significantly larger average CVV, CVI, and CT (CVV: 44.6 ± 8.9 mm3 vs 38.2 ± 9.4 mm3, P < 0.01; CVI: 34.7% ± 1.8% vs 33.3% ± 3.0%, P = 0.03; CT: 242.2 ± 48.0 μm vs 207.2 ± 48.3 μm, P = 0.01). In all regions, negative correlations were found between normalized 6-SMT and CVV (maximum r-value was - 0.60, P < 0.0001), CVI (maximum r-value was - 0.57, P < 0.0001), and CT (maximum r-value was - 0.59, P < 0.0001) in all CSC and controls. Linear regression analysis showed that normalized 6-SMT was the only predictor of CVV, CVI, and CT (P < 0.05) in CSC patients.

CONCLUSION

This study found that CSC patients had lower levels of urinary 6-SMT. The concentration of 6-SMT was associated with choroidal vasculature parameters. The decrease in melatonin secretion might be a risk factor for CSC.