Abstract
Purpose :
To examine if OCT-defined optic nerve parameters measured in late-life are related to blood pressure (BP) measures obtained in late-life and/or midlife (20-30 years prior) in participants pooled from 2 population-based samples of older adults followed for over 30 years in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study (a predominantly black population in Jackson, MS, and a predominantly white population in Washington County, MD).
Methods :
In 2017-2019, one randomly selected eye was imaged from 886 participants. Macular OCT images to assess GCC thickness and peripapillary OCT images to assess nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness were captured. Systolic and diastolic BP measurements were obtained at 2 mid-life study visits occurring between 1986-9 and 1996-8, and one late-life study visit (2017-9), with hypertension defined as either systolic BP>140 mmHg or a diastolic BP>90 mm Hg, with or without anti-hypertensive medications. Multivariable inear regression models evaluated the association of hypertension status with either RNFL or GCC thickness accounting for relevant covariates.
Results :
Imaging of sufficient quality was noted in 579/625 participants. Those with poor images were slightly older than those with sufficient image quality (80 vs 78 years, p=0.03). In multivariable models, participants with patterns of (1) mid-life normotension and late-life hypertension, (2) midlife hypertension and late-life normotension, and (3) mid- and late-life hypertension did not differ from participants with mid and late-life normotension with regards to either RNFL or GCC thickness (p>0.05 for all). Neither mid-life nor late-life anti-hypertensive medication use was associated with either RNFL or GCC thickness (p>0.1 for both). Lower RNFL thickness was associated with older age (-0.30 microns/year) and axial length (-2.39 microns/mm increment), while GCC thickness was associated only with longer axial length (-1.44 microns/mm) (p<0.05 for all). In sensitivity analyses, no associations between hypertension status and either RNFL or GCC thickness were noted when anti-hypertensive medication use was included in the definition of hypertension.
Conclusions :
Hypertension measured across many years shows no association with parameters of optic nerve health, nor does hypertension treatment appear, on average, to affect parameters of optic nerve health.
This is a 2020 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.