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Narrower retinal arteriolar, venular calibers found in Asian glaucoma patients
Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2008;49(12):5397-5402.
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Glaucomatous eyes were found to have narrower retinal arteriolar and venular caliber more often than non-glaucomatous eyes, a study of an Asian population found.
The link between glaucoma and retinal vascular narrowing was found in a population-based, cross-sectional study of 3,019 individuals of Asian Malay ethnicity. Of those individuals, 127 had glaucoma. The study adjusted for age, sex, IOP, smoking and additional vascular risk factors.
Researchers took dilated digital retinal photographs of both eyes, measuring retinal vascular caliber from the images with a computer-based technique.
The study authors found that mean retinal arteriolar caliber was significantly narrower in those with glaucoma than those without, 136.4 µm vs. 139.7 µm (P = .02); this was also found for mean venular caliber, 209.2 µm vs. 219.7 µm (P < .001). Glaucoma patients were more likely to have a vertical cup-to-disc ratio.
"These findings support an association of narrower retinal arteriolar and venular caliber changes with glaucomatous optic neuropathy, independent of intraocular pressure," the study authors said.