Retinal and peripheral vascular function in healthy individuals with low cardiovascular risk

Said Elyas Karimzad, Hala Shokr, Doina Gherghel*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Objective: To assess retinal and peripheral microvascular function in individuals with low cardiovascular risk. Methods and results: Retinal microvascular function was assessed using the dynamic vessel analyser (DVA) and peripheral vascular reactivity was measured using the digital thermal monitor (DTM) in 136 healthy participants. In addition, systemic blood pressure (BP) profiles, blood analyses for glucose and lipid metabolism markers (CHOL, HDL-c, LDL-c), as well as the Framingham Risk Score (FRS) were assessed in all participants. Based on peripheral vascular reactivity scores, participants were separated into 3 groups: high, intermediate and low risk. Participants with high risk showed a significant higher retinal arteriolar time to reach maximum dilation (tMD) than those with intermediate and low risk (p < 0.001). In addition, retinal arterial dilation amplitude (DA), and constriction slope (SlopeAC) were higher in subjects with low risk (p = 0.006, p = 0.019). Only in high risk participants, peripheral vascular reactivity parameters correlated with retinal arterial functional parameters DA, (r = 0.3800, p = 0.029) and tMD (r = −0.5904, p < 0.001). Conclusion: We conclude that signs of abnormal vascular function are similarly present and detectable in various microvascular beds, despite existing differences in their anatomical and physiological properties.

Original languageEnglish
Article number103908
JournalMicrovascular Research
Volume126
Early online date31 Jul 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Nov 2019

Bibliographical note

© 2019, Elsevier. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Keywords

  • Endothelial function
  • Cardio-vascular disease
  • Vascular function
  • Vascular imaging
  • Dynamic vessel analysis

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