Abstract
Purpose :
To children, second-hand smoke exposure is associated with adverse cardiovascular outcome in the future. Alterations in retinal vasculature, possibly surrogate measures of microvascular abnormalities, have been shown to be associated with cardiovascular risk factors and development of cardiovascular events. We sought to examine the relationship between household second-hand smoke exposure and quantitative retinal vascular parameters in a Paediatric Chinese population.
Methods :
Retinal photographs of right eye from 1,019 Chinese children aged 6-9 years old were obtained from an on-going cross-sectional population-based study, the Hong Kong Children Eye Study (HKCES). A spectrum of quantitative retinal vascular parameters (caliber, tortuosity, branching angle, and fractal dimension) were measured with a computer-assisted software (Singapore I Vessel Assessment), following to a standardized protocol. Information on parental and household smoking habit were collected via validated questionnaires.
Results :
32.4% children (n=298) were exposed to household second-hand smoke. 27.3% fathers (n=249) and 3.1% mothers (n=29) were current smokers. Children with second-hand smoke exposure at home were more likely to have a wider retinal arteriolar caliber (167.2 μm vs. 169.84 μm, p=0.004), compared with children with smoke-free home. Fraternal, but not maternal smoking, was significantly associated with retinal arteriolar dilation (167.3 μm vs. 170 μm, p=0.008) and an increase in arteriovenous ratio (0.743 vs 0.754, p=0.01). The associations on arteriolar dilation and increased arteriovenous ratio persisted in the multivariate analysis, after adjusting for age, sex, systolic blood pressure, body mass index and axial length. Other retinal vascular parameters were not associated with household second-hand smoke exposure.
Conclusions :
Children exposed to second-hand smoke are more likely to have retinal arteriolar dilation.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.