Association of retinal nerve fiber layer thickness with disease disability,disease duration,SF-36,and PASAT scores in multiple sclerosis [Multipl skleroz'da retinal sinir lif kali{dotless}nli{dotless}ǧi{dotless}ni{dotless}n hastali{dotless}k dizabilitesi,hastali{dotless}k süresi,SF-36 ve PASAT skorlari{dotless} İle İlişkisi]

Objective: we aimed to establish the thickness of retinal nerve fiber layer (rnfl) in multiple sclerosis (ms) patients and correlate it with disease disability,disease duration,physical and cognitive impairment. methods: we studied 71 consecutive patients (142 eyes) with ms and proportionally matched 30 healthy controls (60 eyes). the thickness of rnfl was measured in both eyes by optical coherence tomography (oct). disease duration,expanded disability status scale (edss),short form-36 (sf-36),and paced auditory serial addition test (pasat) tests were examined in all patients. we investigated the correlations between rnfl and these parameters. results: the average rnfl in ms patients was significantly lower compared with healthy controls (p:0.0001). we found no differences in the rnfl thickness between eyes with and without optic neuritis (p:0.448). the rnfl were significantly thinner in patients with edss ≥5.5 compared with group edss 0-2.5 (p:0.006). the rnfl thickness was significantly reduced with increasing of the disease duration (p:0.0001). the rnfl atrophy was significantly correlated with pasat scores (p:0.0001). there was a low positive correlation between rnfl thickness and physical functioning as a parameter of sf-36 (p:0.031). conclusion: we concluded that rnfl thinning is associated with disease duration and severity,and physical and cognitive impairment.