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Association of dilated retinal arteriolar caliber with early age-related macular degeneration: the Handan Eye Study

  • Medical Ophthalmology
  • Published:
Graefe's Archive for Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

To identify factors associated with early age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in a rural Chinese population, with emphasis on retinal vessel caliber.

Methods

The study population comprised the 6,830 participants of the Handan Eye Study. All participants underwent digital retinal photography of both eyes. Trained graders assessed the presence of AMD lesions. Arteriolar and venular diameters were measured with a specific computer-assisted program and were summarized as the central retinal arteriolar equivalent (CRAE) and central retinal venular equivalent (CRVE).

Results

The data for the 199 individuals with evaluable retinal photographs and early AMD and 400 age-matched individuals randomly selected from the group without AMD were analyzed. After adjusting for participants’ age, sex, smoking status, hypertension, diabetes, BMI, and CRVE, the multivariate adjusted model showed that a higher CRAE was significantly associated with early AMD (OR = 1.34; 95% CI: 1.05–1.71; p = 0.020) and the presence of soft distinct drusen (OR = 1.32 (95% CI: 1.02–1.71, p = 0.037). There were no significant associations between CRVE and early AMD.

Conclusions

Dilated retinal arteriolar caliber is associated with early AMD and soft distinct drusen in this population. We found no significant associations between CRAE and other characteristics of the retina related to AMD or between retinal venal caliber and early AMD. More research is needed to determine whether the difference between these results and those previously published stem from the rural living conditions of the participants or other factors.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (No. 2007CB512201) from the Ministry of Science and Technology of the P.R. China, and the Program of Health Policy for blindness prevention from P.R. China and was partially funded by the Key Technologies R&D Program (No. 2006–10903) from the Bureau of Science and Technology of Handan City, P.R. China with additional support from Beijing Tongren Hospital and key discipline fund of Bureau of Health, Handan City, P.R. China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Tongren Eye Center, Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing Ophthalmology & Visual Science Key Lab, No. 1 Dongjiao Min Xiang, Dongcheng District, Beijing, 100730, China

    Ke Yang, Xinrong Duan, Fenghua Wang & Ning-Li Wang

  2. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Peking University School of Public Health, Beijing, 100191, China

    Si Yan Zhan

  3. Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Yuan Bo Liang

  4. Joint Shantou International Eye Center of Shantou University and The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Yuan Bo Liang

  5. Centre for Eye Research Australia, University of Melbourne, Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, Melbourne, Australia

    Tien Yin Wong

  6. Singapore Eye Research Institute, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Tien Yin Wong

  7. Handan Eye Hospital, Handan, Hebei Province, China

    Lan Ping Sun

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  1. Ke Yang
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  2. Si Yan Zhan
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  3. Yuan Bo Liang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ning-Li Wang.

Additional information

Ke Yang and Si Yan Zhan are co-first authors equally.

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Yang, K., Zhan, S.Y., Liang, Y.B. et al. Association of dilated retinal arteriolar caliber with early age-related macular degeneration: the Handan Eye Study. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 250, 741–749 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-011-1824-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00417-011-1824-4

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