Factors associated with retinal capillary blood flow as measured with confocal scanning laser doppler flowmetry (CSLDF) in an elderly population: the Thessaloniki Eye Study (TES)

Session Details

Session Title: Glaucoma I

Session Date/Time: Monday 07/09/2015 | 08:00-10:30

Paper Time: 08:00

Venue: Room 10

First Author: : N.Dervenis GREECE

Co Author(s): :    P. Founti   F. Yu   E. Anastasopoulos   T. Pappas   V. Kilintzis   F. Topouzis     

Abstract Details

Purpose:

To identify factors associated with retinal capillary blood flow as measured with CSLDF (Heidelberg Retina Flowmeter - HRF) in the population of TES.

Setting:

Laboratory of Research and Clinical Applications in Ophthalmology, A' Department of Ophthalmology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.

Methods:

Cross-sectional population based study (age≥ 60 years). Capillary blood flow in the superior and inferior peri-papillary retina was measured in both eyes of TES participants using the HRF. Pixel by pixel analysis was performed to all HRF images according to a previously published protocol to calculate the percentage of zero flow pixels (surrogate for low blood flow). Multivariate regression analyses were performed to assess the association of zero flow pixels with demographic and lifestyle factors, blood pressure, medical and ophthalmic history, intraocular pressure (IOP) and other ophthalmic variables, after excluding subjects with glaucoma, late age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.

Results:

1189 subjects were included in the analysis. Older age (per year) was associated with higher percentage of zero flow pixels in both the superior (slope estimate – se=0.0020) and inferior (se=0.0019) peri-papillary retina (p<0.0001). Higher IOP (per mmHg) was associated with higher percentage of zero flow pixels in the inferior (se= 0.0012, p<0.05) but not in the superior peri-papillary retina. The group consuming vegetables 1-3 times per week compared to the group consuming vegetables at least once a day had higher percentage of zero flow pixels in the inferior but not in the superior peri-papillary retina (p<0.05).

Conclusions:

Older age was significantly associated with higher percentage of zero flow pixels which may indicate lower capillary blood flow. Higher IOP was significantly associated with higher percentage of zero flow pixels in the inferior peri-papillary retina. No association was found between several systemic and lifestyle factors (blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, smoking) and percentage of zero flow pixels. “This research has been co‐financed by the European Union (European Social Fund – ESF) and Greek national funds through the Operational Program 'Education and Lifelong Learning' of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) ‐ Research Funding Program: THALES.”

Financial Interest:

NONE