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Retinal vascular function in asymptomatic individuals with a positive family history of cardiovascular disease
Author(s) -
Seshadri Swathi,
Karimzad Said E.,
Shokr Hala,
Gherghel Doina
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
acta ophthalmologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.534
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1755-3768
pISSN - 1755-375X
DOI - 10.1111/aos.13783
Subject(s) - medicine , cardiology , retinal , blood pressure , constriction , asymptomatic , family history , diabetes mellitus , endocrinology , ophthalmology
Purpose To compare retinal microvascular function in healthy individuals with and without a positive family history ( FH ) of cardiovascular disease ( CVD ). Methods Retinal vessel reactivity was assessed by means of dynamic retinal vessel analysis in 38 healthy subjects aged between 30 and 66 years with a positive FH of CVD and 37 age‐ and gender‐matched control subjects. Other assessments included blood pressure ( BP ) profiles, blood glucose and lipid metabolism markers, Framingham risk scores ( FRS ), carotid intima‐media thickness (c‐ IMT ) and brachial flow‐mediated dilation ( FMD ). Results Family history‐positive subjects showed decreased retinal arterial baseline diameter fluctuation, dilation amplitude, percent dilation, and overall constriction response slope (p = 0.001; p = 0.015; p = 0.001; and p < 0.001, respectively) and increased percent constriction (p = 0.008). On the venous side, baseline‐corrected flicker response and dilation response slope were decreased in the FH ‐positive group (p = 0.009 and p = 0.010, respectively). There were no significant differences between groups in c‐ IMT scores or FMD parameters (all p > 0.05). The arterial MC % correlated negatively with decreased high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol ( r = −0.52, p = 0.002) in only FH ‐positive group. Conclusion Although macrovascular function is preserved in individuals with FH positive for CVD but with low FRS , there are, however, functional impairments at the retinal microvascular level that correlate with established plasma markers for cardiovascular risk.