Objective: To compare the choroidal thickness (CT) in eyes with moderate and severe primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG) with the eyes of healthy controls.

Methods: Fifty-nine patients (59 eyes) with PACG and 56 age-matched normal subjects underwent macular CT scanning using enhanced depth imaging-optical coherence tomography. The subjects with PACG were further classified as having moderate [-12 dB ≤ visual field mean deviation (VF-MD) ≤ -6 dB] or severe (VF-MD < -12 dB) glaucoma. The average CT of the PACG eyes at each location was compared to that of normal eyes.

Results: The CT was significantly increased in moderate and severe PACG eyes compared with the normal eyes at all nine macular locations, with the exception of 1 and 3 mm superior to the fovea. The mean CT under the fovea was 292.0 ± 48.2 μm in the moderate PACG eyes, 277.1 ± 58.3 μm in the severe PACG eyes and 249.9 ± 72.1 μm in the normal eyes, respectively. There were no significant differences between the macular CTs in the eyes with moderate PACG and those in severe PACG eyes (all p > 0.05). Factors associated with a thinner choroid were ageing (p < 0.001), female (p = 0.036) and increasing axial length (p = 0.021). Neither the VF-MD nor pattern standard deviation was found to be associated with CT.

Conclusions: The CT is greater in patients with PACG, but it does not differ between moderate and severe PACG, suggesting a lack of relationship between CT and the progression of glaucoma based on EDI-OCT measurements.