Abstract
Purpose :
To determine the association between retinal vessel geometric characteristics with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) markers of cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD) and cSVD composite extreme phenotype.
Methods :
Design: Cross-sectional study, population-based study.
Participants: Community-dwelling individuals aged 75 years without dementia and clinical stroke from the Montrachet Study
Methods: At baseline, imaging markers of cSVD were assessed with 1.5-Tesla MRI. Ten years after participants had a fundus with valid measurements of retinal parameters (arterioles and venules fractal dimension [FD], caliber and curvature tortuosity) with Singapore “I” Vessel Assessment software. Inclusion criteria were absence of brain tumor on MRI, absence of clinical diagnosis for dementia or stroke pre-MRI and absence of ophthalmic conditions interfering with macular or peripapillary retinal vasculature.
Main Outcome Measures: MRI markers of cSVD: total white matter hyperintensities volume (WMHV) and brain infarcts/lacunes of presumed vascular origin. A composite MRI-derived phenotype for extremes cSVD, based on age and gender-adjusted WMH and lacunes creating participants groups with extensive versus minimal cSVD severity.
Results :
Overall, 670 participants were included in the analysis. In model adjusted for age at MRI, gender, axial length and vascular risk factors, we observed a nominally significant association between low arteriolar FD and reduced arteriolar caliber with high total WMHV (respectively, p = 0.023 and p = 0.033). Reduced arteriolar FD was significantly associated with extensive cSVD participants (n = 71) after adjustment for age at MRI, gender, axial length, and baseline vascular risk factors (p = 0.002).
Conclusions :
Retinal vessel geometric characteristics (arteriolar caliber and FD) were associated with MRI markers and extensive phenotype of cSVD in elderly participants of the Montrachet population-based study
This abstract was presented at the 2023 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in New Orleans, LA, April 23-27, 2023.