Abstract
Purpose:
To describe the prevalence and associations of retinal hemorrhages (RH) in adult Chinese.
Methods:
The Beijing Eye Study 2011 was a population-based study held in urban and rural Beijing. A total of 3468 participants were enrolled with mean age of 64.6±6.8 years. Detailed eye and systematic examinations were applied. Two photos per eye were taken using 45° fundus camera, centered in either macula or the optic disc. Any retinal hemorrhages were recorded.
Results:
3437 subjects (99.1%) or 6836 eyes had gradable fundus photographs. RH were observed in 435 participants (12.7%±1.0%) or 518 eyes (7.6± 2.2%). RH were located in optic disc (9.5%), peripapillary area (37.5%), macula (24.3%), periphery areas (6.4%), or diffused area (22.4%). The causes for RH were attributed to diabetic retinopathy (35.3%), retinal vein occlusion (12.2%), Posterior Vitreous Detachment (4.4%), glaucoma (2,5%), age-related macular degeneration (1.5%), and other diseases (0.4%). However causes fro 43.6% of the RH could not be clearly found. The presence of RH with unclear reasons was associated with systolic blood pressure (P<0.001), refractive error (P<0.001), and body mess index (P=0.003).
Conclusions:
RH was present in 12.7% adult Chinese population, half of which were related to certain ophthalmological disorders. The RH with unknown causes might be a hint of systematic diseases.
Keywords: 464 clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: risk factor assessment •
688 retina