Abstract
Purpose :
Retinal artery occlusion (RAO) can cause acute, painless and irreversible monocular loss of vision. Using a large sample population database, we investigated the effect of various systemic disorders and non-clinical demographic in patients with RAOs on developing ischemic stroke.
Methods :
Cases of RAO were obtained from the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database between 2002 and 2013 using ICD-9 codes. Associated morbidities and procedures were assessed in these cases with a primary hospital admitting diagnosis of stroke. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were carried out in RAO cases to determine risk factors for stroke. The Bonferroni correction method was applied.
Results :
The RAO group consisted of 19,809 cases which were grouped into stroke (n=1157, 55% male, mean age: 69±0.4) and non-stroke (n=18,652, 55% male, mean age: 68±0.1) cohorts. Ages protective for stroke development were 20-39 (OR: 0.391), 40-59 (OR: 0.842), and 60-79 (OR: 0.837). No stroke cases were present at ages < 20. Other factors protective for stroke were carotid stenosis (OR: 0.187), transient ischemic attack (OR: 0.064), coronary artery disease (OR: 0.788), cardiac catheterization (OR: 0.481), and septicemia (OR: 0.333) [Figure 1]. Factors that increased risk of stroke included hypertension (OR: 1.418), tobacco use (OR: 1.568), valvular disease (OR: 1.359), hyperlipidemia (OR: 1.298), and non-stroke cerebrovascular disease (OR: 2.985) [Figure 1].
Conclusions :
: A large patient population was utilized to determine that RAO patients with a history of hypertension, hyperlipidemia, tobacco usage, valvular disease, and non-stroke cerebrovascular disease had an increased incidence of stroke. Patients below the age of 40 presented with significantly reduced stroke risk. Carotid stenosis, coronary artery disease, transient ischemic attacks, cardiac catheterization, and septicemia were all independently associated with a decreased risk of stroke development in RAO patients.
This is a 2020 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.