Abstract
Purpose :
Cardiovascular diseases and retinal vein occlusion (RVO) share many risk factors in common. We aimed to clarify the association between RVO occurrence and cardiovascular health (CVH) metrics called the Life’s Simple 7 advocated by the American Heart Association.
Methods :
Design: Retrospective cohort study.
Subjects: Individuals undergoing health checkups from 2005 to 2020 in the JMDC Claims Database (JMDC Inc., Tokyo, Japan).
Methods: We set the two exposures: 1) each component of the CVH metrics: body mass index, blood pressure (BP), fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, smoking, dietary habits, and physical activity; and 2) the number of non-ideal CVH metrics (non-ideal CVH score, ranging from 0 [healthiest] to 7 [unhealthiest]). The outcome was RVO occurrence, identified by the first date of the diagnosis. We performed Cox regression in which RVO occurrence was regressed on the above exposures, age, and sex.
Main Outcome Measures: Hazard ratios for RVO occurrence of 1) each component of the CVH metrics and 2) the non-ideal CVH score.
Results :
A total of 2,093,536 individuals were eligible. During a mean follow-up of 1,070 ± 884 days, 3,265 RVO events occurred. Non-ideal BP was most strongly associated with increased risk of RVO occurrence (hazard ratio [HR], 2.25 [95% confidence interval, 2.06–2.46]), followed by non-ideal BMI (HR, 1.30 [1.20–1.40]). Higher non-ideal CVH scores were associated with increased risk of RVO occurrence: adjusted HRs of the groups with non-ideal CVH scores of 6–7, 5 ,4, 3, 2, and 1 were 3.68 (2.61–5.20), 2.83 (2.03–3.95), 2.54 (1.83–3.53), 2.21 (1.59–3.06), 1.78 (1.28–2.47), and 1.39 (0.98–1.95), respectively, compared to the healthiest group with the score 0. This trend was also observed in the subgroups with and without ideal BP.
Conclusions :
The strongest risk factor for RVO was non-ideal BP, followed by non-ideal BMI. Non-ideal CVH score, an indicator of unhealthy lifestyle, was dose-dependently associated with RVO occurrence, which also applied to the individuals with ideal-BP. Public health and individual efforts to manage these modifiable risk factors are essential for preventing RVO.
This abstract was presented at the 2022 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Denver, CO, May 1-4, 2022, and virtually.