Abstract
Purpose :
The purpose of the study was to evaluate the association between occurrence of retinal artery occlusion (RAO) and the risk of subsequent cardiovascular disorders (CVD) in a real-life, national cohort from Denmark.
Methods :
A nationwide, population-based, case-control study using the Danish National Patient Registry was conducted of all patients in Denmark, who received a diagnosis of RAO from any Danish ophthalmology clinic between January 1, 1998, and December 31, 2018. Patients and controls were not allowed any record of previous RAO or CVD before January 1, 1998. Cardiovascular disorders were sorted into three groups: ischemic CVD, non-ischemic CVD and potentially embolizing disorders. For each patient, ten age- and sex-matched controls were included. All patients were followed from the date of RAO-diagnosis (or corresponding entry date for the controls) until the earliest CVD diagnosis, death, emigration, or December 31, 2018, whichever occurred first. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to calculate hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the associations between RAO and CVD using days from date of first registration of RAO as the underlying time scale.
Results :
The results include 2787 RAO patients, comprising 1203 (43.2%) with central RAO (CRAO), 371 (13.3%) with branch RAO (BRAO) and 1213 (43.5%) with anatomically unspecified RAO. At baseline, 49.1 % were males, and mean age was 66.9±14.1 years. Where affected eye was specified (n=1495), 50.8% were right eye, 46.3% were left eye and 2.9% were bilateral.
HRs for subsequent development of CVD among all RAO patients were 2.53 (2.35-2.73) for ischemic CVD, 2.11 (1.99-2.24) for non-ischemic CVD and 1.41 (1.27-1.57) for potentially embolizing disorders. Results were similar in a subgroup analysis of CRAO and BRAO. Among potentially embolizing disorders, there was an increased HR for subsequent development of atrial fibrillation (1.40, 1.26-1.56) and endocarditis (1.97, 1.11-3.48). In a subgroup analysis of CRAO and BRAO, results were similar in CRAO, but no increased HR was found in BRAO.
Conclusions :
In a real-life, national cohort, we found an increased risk for subsequent development of ischemic CVD, non-ischemic CVD and potentially embolizing disorders for patients diagnosed with retinal artery occlusions.
This is a 2020 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.