Abstract
Purpose:
To evaluate associations between general health markers found in the blood and neural health, measured by multifocal electroretinogram, in control subjects without eye disease.
Methods:
Twenty control subjects aged 23-67 (mean age 35) years were included in this study. All subjects were free of eye disease and had at least 20/20 acuity. Blood testing, which included a CBC, HbA1c, random blood sugar, a complete lipid panel, and a C reactive protein measure, was run for every subject. A multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG) was also performed (VERIS 6.3) to determine neural eye health. The implicit times (IT) and N1-P1 amplitudes (AMP) were measured and averaged over the entire eye. One value was assigned to each eye of the subject. Multivariate regression analysis was utilized to determine associations between systemic health blood measures and retinal neural health measures.
Results:
mfERG implicit times are associated with blood health markers and lipid panel measures when the results from the blood work are included together in multivariate analysis. A multivariate regression model including cholesterol (p=0.004), triglycerides (p=0.004), high density lipoproteins (p=0.004), low density lipoproteins (p=0.004), C reactive protein (p=0.001), and HbA1c (p=0.040) is best correlated with mfERG IT. The blood measures individually are not significantly correlated with neural health in control patients. Blood measures are not correlated with mfERG AMP individually or as part of a multivariate analysis.
Conclusions:
Results from this pilot study indicate that overall systemic health is correlated to mfERG IT even in healthy patients without eye disease. Taking the results from one blood test is not sufficient to establish an overall health status. Instead a panel of results, which include both inflammatory and lipid information, should be considered. This information could be useful when evaluating these markers in patients at risk for vascular eye diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.
Keywords: 509 electroretinography: clinical •
498 diabetes •
557 inflammation