Association between carotid intima-media thickness and retinal arteriolar and venular diameter in patients with hypertension: A cross-sectional study

作者：Torres Felipe Soares^*; Fuchs Sandra C; Maestri Marcelo K; Fuchs Flavio D; Oliveira Manuel M; Moreira Leila B; Gus Miguel

来源：Atherosclerosis, 2013, 229(1): 134-138.

DOI：10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2013.04.019

• Hypertension
• Retinal arteriolar narrowing
• Microdensitometric method
• Carotid intima-media thickness

Objective: Abnormalities in retinal vessels are frequent, but its association with findings in other vascular sites has been scarcely investigated. This study aimed to examine the association between ultrasound-measured carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and retinal arteriolar and venular diameters, in hypertensive patients.
Methods: In this cross-section study, 173 hypertensive patients had both retinography taken and digitized to determine vessel diameters by an edge-detecting computerized method and carotid ultrasound for semi-automated carotid IMT measurement. The association between the mean common carotid IMT and retinal arterioles and venules diameters was assessed by using multiple linear regression models.
Results: The mean (+SD) arteriolar and venular diameters were 102.8 (+11.6) mu m and 128.9 (+15.5) mu m, respectively, and common carotid IMT was 0.87 (+/- 0.19) mm. A significant and independent association was demonstrated for carotid IMT and retinal arteriolar caliber (adjusted beta -0.245, p = 0.001) and for carotid IMT and retinal venular caliber (adjusted beta 0.191, p = 0.009) after controlling for age, gender, systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol and HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol, prior cardiovascular disease, carotid plaque and the retinal fellow vessel.
Conclusion: In patients with hypertension, carotid intima-media thickness, a marker of macrovascular damage, is significantly and independently associated with microvascular damage, determined by retinal arteriolar and venular calibers.

• 出版日期2013-7