Retinal Pulse Wave Velocity Increases With Age In Medically Validated Healthy Volunteers

Abstract

Purpose: : We demonstrated previously in a pilot study that both aging with not excluded cardiovascular risk factors and mild arterial hypertension are associated with elevated retinal pulse wave velocity (rPWV) as a measure of retinal arterial stiffness. Whether rPWV increases with age in a cohort of medically validated healthy subjects is investigated.

Methods: : 71 healthy 41.0±12.1 (range: 20 - 66) years old volunteers were examined. The following cardiovascular risk factors were excluded: overweight, increased blood pressure, cholesterol level and blood glucose. Time dependent alterations of vessel diameter were assessed by the Dynamic Vessel Analyzer (IMEDOS Systems, Jena, Germany) in a segment of a retinal artery. The data was filtered and evaluated by methods of mathematical signal analysis and rPWVs were calculated.

Results: : rPWV amounted to 370±100 (range: 180 - 620) RU(relative units)/s in the whole group. 1RU corresponds to 1µm in the Gullstrand’s eye model. rPWV increased significantly with age: r=0.41 (Pearson’s correlation, p<0.005). There was a weak negative correlation with vessel diameter: r=-0.27, p<0.05 as well as a weak positive correlation with mean arterial pressure: r=0.22, p<0.05.

Conclusions: : Our results show that healthy aging with excluded cardiovascular risk factors is associated with increased rPWV and hence with age-related elevation of retinal arterial stiffness. However rPWV increases in medically validated healthy volunteers to a much less extent than in hypertensive subjects or in subjects with not excluded cardiovascular risk.

Keywords: aging • retina • blood supply