Retinal age gap may be a biomarker for ESKD
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Each year increase in retinal age gap independently correlated with a 10% increase in the risk of end-stage kidney disease, according to data published in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases.
“With retinal age gap being a strong reflection of the biological aging process, there is potential for it to be a biomarker to identify patients at high risk of ESKD, alongside other retinal changes correlated to kidney disease,” Shiran Zhang, MD, and colleagues wrote. “Therefore, in this study, we aimed to explore the association between the retinal age gap and the future risk of incident ESKD using the prospective cohort of the U.K. Biobank study.”
In a prospective cohort study, researchers explored the correlation between retinal age and chronological age, the retinal age gap and the future risk of ESKD in a total of 11,052 U.K. Biobank study participants, none of whom had reported disease for characterizing retinal age in a deep learning algorithm. Additionally, researchers examined 35,864 other participants without ESKD but with retinal images to determine the correlation between retinal age gap and the risk of ESKD.
Using a deep learning prediction model, researcher identified retinal age based on images and chronological age. Additionally, researchers conducted Cox proportional hazards regression models to measure the correlation of retinal age and ESKD.
Ultimately, 115 participants were diagnosed with ESKD after a median follow-up of 11 years. Researchers noted that each 1-year increase in retinal age gap independently correlated with a 10% increase in ESKD risk. Further, investigators found 1,087 participants died from all causes.
“In conclusion, retinal age gap, a biological ageing marker, was significantly associated with incident ESKD and may have potential to contribute to identification of people at elevated risk for ESKD,” Zhang and colleagues wrote. “Future studies are needed to investigate the association of dynamic changes of retinal age gap with incident ESKD to evaluate the predictive value of retinal age gap in assessing the risk of ESKD.”
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