Association of ocular, cardiovascular, morphometric and lifestyle parameters with retinal nerve fibre layer thickness

  • Background: Glaucoma is a neurodegenerative disease, leading to thinning of the retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL). The exact influence of ocular, cardiovascular, morphometric, lifestyle and cognitive factors on RNFL thickness (RNFLT) is unknown and was analysed in a subgroup of the Gutenberg Health Study (GHS). Methods: Global peripapillary RNFLT was measured in 3224 eyes of 1973 subjects (49% female) using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). The association of age, sex, ocular, cardiovascular, morphometric, lifestyle and cognitive factors on RNFLT was analysed using Pearson correlation coefficient and fitting a linear mixed model. Results: In the univariable analysis highest correlations were found for axial length (r = -0.27), spherical equivalent (r = 0.24), and glaucoma (r = -0.15) (p<0.0001, respectively). Other significant correlations with RNFLT were found for age, sex, intraocular pressure, systemic hypertension and systolic blood pressure, previous eye surgery, cholesterol, homocysteine, history of coronary artery disease, history of myocardial infarction, apnoea, diabetes and alcohol intake, p<0.05, respectively. Body length, body weight, BMI, diastolic blood pressure, blood glucose, HbA1c, history of apoplexy, cognitive function, peripheral artery disease, tinnitus, migraine, nicotine intake, central corneal thickness, and pseudophakia were not significantly correlated with RNFLT. The regression model revealed a significant relationship between RNFLT and age in decades (p<0.02), spherical equivalent (p<0.0001), axial length (p<0.0001), glaucoma (p<0.0001), tinnitus (p = 0.04), apnoea (p = 0.047), homocysteine (p = 0.05) and alcohol intake >10g/d for women and >20g/d for men (p = 0.02). Glaucoma, apnoea, higher homocysteine, higher alcohol intake and higher axial length as well as age were related to decreased RNFLT while higher spherical equivalent or history for tinnitus were related to thicker RNFL. Conclusion: RNFLT is related to age, ocular parameters and lifestyle factors. Considering these parameters in normative databases could improve the evaluation of peripapillary RNFLT. It is necessary to evaluate if a reduction of alcohol intake as well as the therapy of apnea or high homocysteine levels could positively influence RNFLT.

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Author:Julia Lamparter, Irene Schmidtmann, Alexander K. Schuster, Angeliki Siouli, Joanna Katarzyna Wasielica-Poślednik, Alireza Mirshahi, René Höhn, Josef Unterrainer, Philipp Wild, Harald Binder, Karl Johannes LacknerORCiD, Manfred Beutel, Thomas MünzelORCiDGND, Norbert Pfeiffer, Esther Maria Hoffmann
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-465569
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197682
ISSN:1932-6203
Pubmed Id:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29787603
Parent Title (English):PLoS One
Publisher:PLoS
Place of publication:Lawrence, Kan.
Contributor(s):Alfred Lewin
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Year of Completion:2018
Date of first Publication:2018/05/22
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2018/05/24
Tag:Alcohol consumption; Blood pressure; Eyes; Glaucoma; Morphometry; Nerve fibers; Tinnitus; Tomography
Volume:13
Issue:(5): e0197682
Page Number:11
First Page:1
Last Page:11
Note:
Copyright: © 2018 Lamparter et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
HeBIS-PPN:433858648
Institutes:Medizin / Medizin
Dewey Decimal Classification:6 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften / 61 Medizin und Gesundheit / 610 Medizin und Gesundheit
Sammlungen:Universitätspublikationen
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - Namensnennung 4.0