Retinal vessel geometry in patients with idiopathic epiretinal membrane

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 13; no. 1; p. 5108
• Main Authors: Lee, Eun Kyoung, Kim, Hye Jee, Lee, Sang-Yoon, Song, Su Jeong, Yu, Hyeong Gon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 29-03-2023; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 692/308; 692/420; Blood vessels; Cardiovascular diseases; Cross-Sectional Studies; Epiretinal Membrane - diagnostic imaging; Female; Health risks; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Microvasculature; multidisciplinary; Regression analysis; Retina; Retina - diagnostic imaging; Retinal Vessels - diagnostic imaging; Retrospective Studies; Risk factors; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sex ratio
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-32025-5

We investigated the associations between retinal vascular geometric measurements and idiopathic epiretinal membrane (ERM). Whether changes in retinal vascular geometry are independent of systemic cardiovascular risk factors was also evaluated. This retrospective, cross sectional study included 98 patients with idiopathic ERM, and 99 healthy age-matched controls. Quantitative retinal vascular parameters were measured from digital retinal fundus photographs using a semi-automated computer-assisted program. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to evaluate associations between retinal vascular geometric parameters and the presence of idiopathic ERM after adjusting for systemic cardiovascular risk factors. There was no significant difference in the baseline characteristics of the two groups, except that the ERM group had a higher proportion of females than the control group. In multivariate regression analyses, female sex (odds ratio [OR] 0.402; 95% CI 0.196–0.802;
P
 = 0.011), wider retinal venular caliber (OR 16.852; 95% CI 5.384–58.997;
P
 < 0.001) and decreased total fractal dimension (OR 0.156; 95% CI 0.052–0.440;
P
 = 0.001) were associated with idiopathic ERM. Idiopathic ERM was associated with alterations in global retinal microvascular geometric parameters, wider retinal venules, and less complex vascular branching patterns, independent of cardiovascular risk factors.