Investigating the Hypothesis of Stress System Dysregulation as a Risk Factor for Central Serous Chorioretinopathy: A Literature Mini-Review

ABSTRACTBackground: This mini-review addressed the question “what do we know about the association between the dysregulation of stress systems (HPA axis and SAM) and the onset and prognosis of CSC in adult populations?”Methods: The literature mini-review was conducted through electronic searches using the PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases. All published human and animal studies with both observational and experimental designs from 1966 to October 2018 were included.Results: Our search identified 229 reports, of which 32 articles were ultimately identified to be reviewed in this paper. Among these key articles, twenty-three were related to exogenous and/or endogenous high glucocorticoids as risk factors for CSC, seven were related to Type-A behavior and chronic psychological distress as risk factors for idiopathic CSC, and two were related to stress-induced animal models of CSC. Nineteen out of twenty-three studies in the first group reported a consistent association between high circulating cor...