Abstract
Purpose :
Regular physical activity is important in healthy aging and is known to positively influence the retina and visual function. In order to elucidate the effect of physical activity on the retina we assessed the acute chorioretinal changes in senior athletes following short intense physical strain as assessed by optical coherence tomography (OCT).
Methods :
Seventeen eyes of 17 healthy senior sportsmen (mean age 67.9 ± 7.4 years, 11 males and 6 females) were recruited for the study conducted at Semmelweis University, Department of Ophthalmology. The subjects performed a stepwise incremental exercise trial until exhaustion (vita maxima) or reaching a peak of maximum physiological age-related systolic blood pressure (calculated as 220/min - age) on a cycle ergometer. Macular scanning with a spectral domain (SD) OCT device was performed before and 1, 5, 15, 30 and 60 minutes following the exercise. The SD-OCT images were exported and segmented by our custom-built OCTRIMA 3D software and the thickness of the choroid and 7 retinal layers was measured. One-way ANOVA analysis was performed followed by Dunnett post hoc test. The level of significance was set at 5%.
Results :
A significant thinning of the total retina was observed 1 minute post exercise which was followed by a significant thickening at 5 minutes (-1.56±1.1µm, p=0.000 and +1.05±1.0µm, p=0.012, respectively), with thickness values returning to baseline afterwards. The same significant trend was observed at the composite layer of the outer retina consisting of the outer plexiform and outer nuclear layer and the outer segment (-0.7±0.3µm, p=0.000 and +0.7±0.5µm, p=0.000 for 1 and 5 minutes, respectively). The outer region of the GCL+IPL complex showed also a significant thinning at 1 minute (-0.5±0.4µm, p=0.000). There was neither any significant change in choroidal thickness nor any correlation with the thickness changes of the intraretinal layers.
Conclusions :
We could observe acute changes in senior sportsmen after strong physical strain involving the entire macula. These changes seem to be mainly present in the outer retina, independent of the choroidal vasculature. The observed trend is somewhat less pronounced, although seemingly similar to our previous observations in young sportsmen and warrants further research regarding its role in the healthy ageing of the retina.
This abstract was presented at the 2022 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Denver, CO, May 1-4, 2022, and virtually.