TY - JOUR
T1 - Retinal Vascular Measurements and Mortality Risk
T2 - Evidence From the UK Biobank Study
AU - Yusufu, Mayinuer
AU - Chen, Yutong
AU - Dayimu, Alimu
AU - Bulloch, Gabriella
AU - Jin, Shanshan
AU - Vingrys, Algis J.
AU - Zhang, Lei
AU - Shang, Xianwen
AU - Shi, Danli
AU - He, Mingguang
N1 - Funding Information:
This project received grant funding from the Australian Government: the National Critical Research Infrastructure Initiative, Medical Research Future Fund (MRFAI00035) and the NHMRC Investigator Grant (APP1175405). The contents of the published material are solely the responsibility of the Administer-ing Institution, a participating institution or individual authors and do not reflect the views of the NHMRC. This work was supported by grants from the Fundamental Research Funds of the State Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Project of Investigation on Health Status of Employees in Financial Industry in Guangzhou, China (Z012014075); and Global STEM Professorship Scheme (P0046113). The Centre for Eye Research Australia receives Operational Infrastructure Support from the Victorian State Government. MY is supported by a Melbourne Research Scholarship established by the University of Melbourne. The funding source had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; or decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
Funding Information:
This project received grant funding from the Australian Government: the National Critical Research Infrastructure Initiative, Medical Research Future Fund (MRFAI00035) and the NHMRC Investigator Grant (APP1175405). The contents of the published material are solely the responsibility of the Administering Institution, a participating institution or individual authors and do not reflect the views of the NHMRC. This work was supported by grants from the Funda-
Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Authors.
PY - 2024/1
Y1 - 2024/1
N2 - Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the association between quantitative retinal vascular measurements and the risk of all-cause and premature mortality. Methods: In this population-based cohort study using the UK Biobank data, we employed the Retina-based Microvascular Health Assessment System to assess fundus images for image quality and extracted 392 retinal vascular measurements per fundus image. These measurements encompass six categories of vascular features: caliber, density, length, tortuosity, branching angle, and complexity. Univariate Cox regression models were used to identify potential indicators of mortality risk using data on all-cause and premature mortality from death registries. Multivariate Cox regression models were then used to test these associations while controlling for confounding factors. Results: The final analysis included 66,415 participants. After adjusting for demographic, health, and lifestyle factors and genetic risk score, 18 and 10 retinal vascular measurements were significantly associated with all-cause mortality and premature mortality, respectively. In the fully adjusted model, the following measurements of different vascular features were significantly associated with all-cause mortality and premature mortality: arterial bifurcation density (branching angle), number of arterial segments (complexity), interquartile range and median absolute deviation of arterial curve angle (tortuosity), mean and median values of mean pixel widths of all arterial segments in each image (caliber), skeleton density of arteries in macular area (density), and minimum venular arc length (length). Conclusions: The study revealed 18 retinal vascular measurements significantly associated with all-cause mortality and 10 associated with premature mortality. Those identi-fied parameters should be further studied for biological mechanisms connecting them to increased mortality risk. Translational Relevance: This study identifies retinal biomarkers for increased mortality risk and provides novel targets for investigating the underlying biological mecha-nisms.
AB - Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the association between quantitative retinal vascular measurements and the risk of all-cause and premature mortality. Methods: In this population-based cohort study using the UK Biobank data, we employed the Retina-based Microvascular Health Assessment System to assess fundus images for image quality and extracted 392 retinal vascular measurements per fundus image. These measurements encompass six categories of vascular features: caliber, density, length, tortuosity, branching angle, and complexity. Univariate Cox regression models were used to identify potential indicators of mortality risk using data on all-cause and premature mortality from death registries. Multivariate Cox regression models were then used to test these associations while controlling for confounding factors. Results: The final analysis included 66,415 participants. After adjusting for demographic, health, and lifestyle factors and genetic risk score, 18 and 10 retinal vascular measurements were significantly associated with all-cause mortality and premature mortality, respectively. In the fully adjusted model, the following measurements of different vascular features were significantly associated with all-cause mortality and premature mortality: arterial bifurcation density (branching angle), number of arterial segments (complexity), interquartile range and median absolute deviation of arterial curve angle (tortuosity), mean and median values of mean pixel widths of all arterial segments in each image (caliber), skeleton density of arteries in macular area (density), and minimum venular arc length (length). Conclusions: The study revealed 18 retinal vascular measurements significantly associated with all-cause mortality and 10 associated with premature mortality. Those identi-fied parameters should be further studied for biological mechanisms connecting them to increased mortality risk. Translational Relevance: This study identifies retinal biomarkers for increased mortality risk and provides novel targets for investigating the underlying biological mecha-nisms.
KW - microvasculature quantification
KW - mortality
KW - retina image
KW - retinal vascular measurements
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85181769935&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1167/tvst.13.1.2
DO - 10.1167/tvst.13.1.2
M3 - Article
C2 - 38165718
AN - SCOPUS:85181769935
SN - 2164-2591
VL - 13
JO - Translational Vision Science and Technology
JF - Translational Vision Science and Technology
IS - 1
M1 - 2
ER -