Hypertensive retinopathy associated with lower cognitive function in aging women
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Cognitive scores were lower in the presence of hypertensive retinopathy in mid-life and older women, according to a speaker at the virtual Prevent Blindness: Focus on Eye Health National Summit.
“There is no question, the eye is part of the brain. And more importantly, it is a visible part of the brain through the retina and the optic nerve,” Sayoko “Sy” E. Moroi, MD, PhD, said.
The Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation was a multisite longitudinal study of the health of 3,302 women recruited between ages 42 and 52 years. Study parameters were physical, biological, psychological and social changes.
Three cognitive tests were administered during each participant’s 15th visit over the course of the study. Mean age at that visit was 64.9 years. At the University of Michigan, Moroi and colleagues evaluated vision as an ancillary parameter at a 16th visit when participants received a comprehensive eye exam to assess refractive error, dry eye, cataract, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, hypertensive retinopathy and macular degeneration. Mean age at that visit was 66 years.
“My interpretation at this point is that there are lower cognitive scores in the presence of hypertensive retinopathy while adjusting for demographics, education, systemic hypertension, use of blood pressure medicines and the study visit,” Moroi said.
Moroi, who is now who is now chair and director of the department of ophthalmology and visual sciences at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, said there is a great deal of interest in studying the potential mediator effect of hypertension and developing cognitive impairment.
“From the retinal exams, we have some sense of arterial stiffness because of the arterial venous nicking, so the retina may be a tissue biological marker,” she said. “I believe we are going to find a lot more active research in this area to discover vision and eye biomarkers for memory decline and dementia.”
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Moroi S. Future of vision treatment and research. Presented at: Prevent Blindness: Focus on Eye Health National Summit; July 15, 2020 (virtual meeting).
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