TY - JOUR
T1 - Retinal vascular function in asymptomatic individuals with a positive family history of cardiovascular disease
AU - Seshadri, Swathi
AU - Karimzad, Said
AU - Shokr, Hala
AU - Gherghel, Doina
N1 - Copyright © 2018 by John Wiley & Sons. This is the peer reviewed version of an article which has been published in final form in Acta Ophthalmologica. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.
PY - 2018/12/1
Y1 - 2018/12/1
N2 - Purpose
To compare retinal microvascular function in healthy individuals with and without a positive family history (FH) of cardiovascular disease (CVD).
Methods
Retinal vessel reactivity was assessed by means of dynamic retinal vessel analysis in 38 healthy subjects aged between 30 and 66 years with a positive FH of CVD and 37 age‐ and gender‐matched control subjects. Other assessments included blood pressure (BP) profiles, blood glucose and lipid metabolism markers, Framingham risk scores (FRS), carotid intima‐media thickness (c‐IMT) and brachial flow‐mediated dilation (FMD).
Results
Family history‐positive subjects showed decreased retinal arterial baseline diameter fluctuation, dilation amplitude, percent dilation, and overall constriction response slope (p = 0.001; p = 0.015; p = 0.001; and p < 0.001, respectively) and increased percent constriction (p = 0.008). On the venous side, baseline‐corrected flicker response and dilation response slope were decreased in the FH‐positive group (p = 0.009 and p = 0.010, respectively). There were no significant differences between groups in c‐IMT scores or FMD parameters (all p > 0.05). The arterial MC% correlated negatively with decreased high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (r = −0.52, p = 0.002) in only FH‐positive group.
Conclusion
Although macrovascular function is preserved in individuals with FH positive for CVD but with low FRS, there are, however, functional impairments at the retinal microvascular level that correlate with established plasma markers for cardiovascular risk.
AB - Purpose
To compare retinal microvascular function in healthy individuals with and without a positive family history (FH) of cardiovascular disease (CVD).
Methods
Retinal vessel reactivity was assessed by means of dynamic retinal vessel analysis in 38 healthy subjects aged between 30 and 66 years with a positive FH of CVD and 37 age‐ and gender‐matched control subjects. Other assessments included blood pressure (BP) profiles, blood glucose and lipid metabolism markers, Framingham risk scores (FRS), carotid intima‐media thickness (c‐IMT) and brachial flow‐mediated dilation (FMD).
Results
Family history‐positive subjects showed decreased retinal arterial baseline diameter fluctuation, dilation amplitude, percent dilation, and overall constriction response slope (p = 0.001; p = 0.015; p = 0.001; and p < 0.001, respectively) and increased percent constriction (p = 0.008). On the venous side, baseline‐corrected flicker response and dilation response slope were decreased in the FH‐positive group (p = 0.009 and p = 0.010, respectively). There were no significant differences between groups in c‐IMT scores or FMD parameters (all p > 0.05). The arterial MC% correlated negatively with decreased high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol (r = −0.52, p = 0.002) in only FH‐positive group.
Conclusion
Although macrovascular function is preserved in individuals with FH positive for CVD but with low FRS, there are, however, functional impairments at the retinal microvascular level that correlate with established plasma markers for cardiovascular risk.
UR - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/aos.13783
U2 - 10.1111/aos.13783
DO - 10.1111/aos.13783
M3 - Article
SN - 1755-375X
VL - 96
SP - e956-e962
JO - Acta Ophthalmologica
JF - Acta Ophthalmologica
IS - 8
ER -