Assessment of the impact of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol on retinal vessels using optical coherence tomography angiography

作者：He Yu, Mingzhao Qin, Kai Cao, Yongpeng Zhang, Xuan Jiao, Zheng Zhang, Guohong Wang, Qi Liu, Qian Liu, Jin-Bao Ma, Xue Jiang, Caixia Guo · 发表于：Lipids in Health and Disease · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1186/s12944-024-02287-7 · 被引用次数：10 · 研究领域：Retinal Diseases and Treatments、Retinal Imaging and Analysis、Glaucoma and retinal disorders

BACKGROUND: Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is acknowledged as an independent risk factor (IRF) for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Nevertheless, studies on the impact of LDL-C on microvasculature are still scarce. The retina, abundant in microvasculature, can now be examined for microvascular alterations through the novel, non-invasive, and quantitative optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) technique. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 243 patients from the geriatric department were recruited (between December 2022 and December 2023). Individuals were classified into four groups based on their LDL-C levels: Group 1 (≤ 1.8 mmol/L), Group 2 (> 1.8 mmol/L to ≤ 2.6 mmol/L), Group 3 (> 2.6 mmol/L to ≤ 3.4 mmol/L), and Group 4 (> 3.4 mmol/L). The OCTA results including retinal vessel density (VD), foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area, macula thickness, and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness were contrasted across these groups. T-tests, analysis of variance, Welch's tests, or rank-sum tests were employed for statistical comparisons. In cases where significant differences between groups were found, post-hoc multiple comparisons or rank-sum tests were performed for pairwise group comparisons. Spearman's correlation coefficient was employed to perform bivariate correlation analysis to evaluate the relationship between LDL-C levels and various OCTA measurements. Multivariable regression analysis was used to evaluate the association between LDL-C l...