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The Association between Retinal and Central Pulse Wave Velocity in the Elderly

Artery Research volume 26, pages 148–153 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

Purpose

The retina provides a non-invasive window to monitor microvascular circulation. Carotid-femoral Pulse Wave Velocity (cfPWV) is an indicator of large artery stiffness and is associated with systemic cardiovascular diseases. This study investigates whether Retinal artery PWV (rPWV) reflects cfPWV changes in an elderly cohort.

Methods

A total of 37 elderly participants (28 female, age 79 ± 5 years) were studied. Participants with a history of diabetes, glaucoma, and any neurological or eye-related disorders were excluded. Twenty four subjects were taking antihypertensive medication. A 60-s recording of retinal arterial diameter changes were captured (25 Hz frame rate, Dynamic Vessel Analyzer). Systolic blood pressure, Diastolic Blood Pressure (DBP), cfPWV and Intraocular Pressure (IOP) were measured. A custom-written algorithm was used to extract pulse amplitudes from retinal arterial diameters within one- and three-disc diameters from the optic disc. rPWV was designated as the ratio of the distance between two sites along the artery to the time delay between pulses. Predictors of rPWV were assessed by linear regression and parameter selection techniques.

Results

There was a positive correlation between rPWV and cfPWV (Pearson’s correlation coefficient 0.82, p < 0.001). In parameter selection models, cfPWV, transmural pressure (DBP–IOP), male sex, and IOP were isolated as predictors of rPWV.

Conclusion

This study found a positive correlation between rPWV and cfPWV in an elderly cohort. This indicates that microvessel remodelling that parallels large vessel remodelling is able to be detected using rPWV measurement. Further longitudinal studies are required to elucidate the predictive value of screening rPWV in systemic cardiovascular abnormalities.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

    Mahdieh Rezaeian & Stuart Graham

  2. Vision Science Group, Graduate School of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia

    S. Mojtaba Golzan

  3. Department of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia

    Alberto P. Avolio & Mark Butlin

Authors
  1. Mahdieh Rezaeian
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  2. S. Mojtaba Golzan
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  3. Alberto P. Avolio
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  4. Stuart Graham
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  5. Mark Butlin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mark Butlin.

Additional information

Peer review under responsibility of the Association for Research into Arterial Structure and Physiology

Data availability statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, (M.B.), upon reasonable request.

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This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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Rezaeian, M., Golzan, S.M., Avolio, A.P. et al. The Association between Retinal and Central Pulse Wave Velocity in the Elderly. Artery Res 26, 148–153 (2020). https://doi.org/10.2991/artres.k.200203.001

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.2991/artres.k.200203.001

Keywords

Artery Research

ISSN: 1876-4401

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