Retinal vascular geometry and its association to silent brain infarction

• Published in: BMC ophthalmology Vol. 25; no. 1; pp. 36 - 10
• Main Authors: Wang, Jing, Chen, Tingli, Bian, Xiyun, Zhang, Xiaowei, Yang, Xiaolong, Qi, Xing, Li, Yihan, Huang, Haixia, Qian, Qian, Yuan, Fei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 22.01.2025; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Adult; Age; Aged; Blood vessels; Body mass index; Brain; Brain Infarction - diagnosis; Brain Infarction - epidemiology; Cerebral infarction; China - epidemiology; Cholesterol; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diabetes; Exercise; Female; Fractal dimension; Fractals; Geometry; High density lipoprotein; Humans; Hyperlipidemia; Hypertension; Infarction; Ischemia; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Medical personnel; Middle Aged; Mortality; Older people; Physical examinations; Population; Population studies; Regression analysis; Retina; Retinal Artery - pathology; Retinal vascular geometry; Retinal Vessels - diagnostic imaging; Retinal Vessels - pathology; Retrospective Studies; Silent brain infarction; Software; Statistical analysis; Stroke; Tomography; Triglycerides; Veins & arteries; China; Singapore; Fractal dimension; Silent brain infarction; Retinal vascular geometry
• ISSN: 1471-2415; 1471-2415
• DOI: 10.1186/s12886-025-03854-x

To examine the relationship between retinal vascular geometry and silent brain infarction (SBI) in the Chinese population. We conducted a cross-sectional study that retrospectively analyzed the fundus photographs, MRI and other clinical data of 227 SBIs and 227 controls who visited Shanghai Health And Medical Center for physical examination. The retinal vessel fractal dimension (FD), retinal artery fractal dimension (FDa), retinal vein fractal dimension (FDv), central retinal artery diameter in the region from 0.5 ~ 1.0 disc diameter (DD) from the disc margin (CRAEB), central retinal artery diameter in the region from 1.0 ~ 2.0 DD from the disc margin (CRAEC), central retinal vein diameter in the region from 0.5 ~ 1.0 DD from the disc margin (CRVEB), central retinal vein diameter in the region from 1.0 ~ 2.0 DD from the disc margin (CRVEC), retinal arteriovenous diameter ratio in the region from 0.5 ~ 1.0 DD from the disc margin (AVRB), and retinal arteriovenous diameter ratio in the region from 1.0 ~ 2.0 DD from the disc margin (AVRC) were accessed by the Singapore "I" Vessel Assessment (SIVA) software. FD, FDa, FDv, CRAEB, CRAEC, CRVEB, CRVEC and AVRB in SBI subjects were 1.25 (1.21-1.28), 1.11 (1.08-1.14), 1.09 (1.06-1.13), 168.78 ± 19.39, 163.55 ± 18.97, 235.77 (222.64-254.08), 224.39 ± 23.29, 0.72 ± 0.06, respectively, significantly lower than those of control subjects [1.30 (1.28-1.32), 1.15 (1.13-1.18), 1.14 (1.12-1.16), 196.81 ± 27.94, 183.81 ± 25.46, 273.03 (247.59-296.30), 249.59 ± 32.03, and 0.73 ± 0.08]. Logistic regression results showed that higher FD (OR, 0.04), FDa (OR, 0.07), FDv (OR, 0.06), CRAEB (OR, 0.02), CRAEC (OR, 0.04), CRVEB (OR, 0.03), CRVEC (OR, 0.06), and AVRB (OR, 0.55) were associated with a lower of SBI. There was no significant difference in AVRC between the two groups. Our study shows the association between retinal vascular geometry and SBI, and the results may provide new biomarkers for the early detection of SBI.