Retinal vein occlusion can increase the risk of dementia, finds study

Findings have been published in the American Journal of Ophthalmology.

Though studies have associated Retinal vascular change with changes in the brains of patients with dementia; however, there is limited evidence regarding the relationship between retinal vein occlusion (RVO) and the risk of dementia.

With this background, researchers investigated the association between RVO and subsequent risk of dementia using a cohort comprising the entire Korean population.

The study design was a retrospective cohort type and was based on the data of participants ≥40 years who underwent health examinations between 2009 and 2010 provided by the South Korean National Health Insurance Service. The RVO group (n = 46,259) comprised patients who were initially diagnosed between 2006 and 2010; the comparison group (three per RVO patient; n = 138,777) was selected using propensity score matching according to age, sex, and systolic blood pressure.

Key findings were-

• In a follow-up of 6.6 years, 14,727 cases of dementia developed.
• From the Kaplan-Meier curves, incidence probabilities for all types of dementia were significantly increased in the RVO group, relative to the comparison group (all log-rank P <0.001).
• After adjusting for all confounding variables, the RVO group exhibited increased risks of subsequent all-cause dementia (HR, 1.16; 95% CI, 1.12-1.21), Alzheimer's disease (1.15, 1.11-1.20), and vascular dementia (1.24, 1.12-1.37) relative to the comparison group.

From the results of the study, the authors observed that-

• Retinal vein occlusion (RVO) was associated with an increased risk of dementia.
• The coexistence of RVO with hypertension was associated with a higher risk of dementia.
•  RVO may be a predictor of dementia.

The authors concluded that the presence of RVO was significantly associated with increased risks of all three types of dementia both in hypertensive and non-hypertensive individuals.

For detailed reading, log on to https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajo.2020.07.050