Abstract
Cardiovascular diseases are frequently present in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Population-based studies found associations between retinal vessel diameters and cardiovascular health, but it is unknown whether this also applies to COPD patients. Therefore, we measured retinal vessel diameters in COPD patients and aimed to determine the association with cardiovascular risk factors, lung function, and functional outcomes. In addition, we investigated whether an exercise-based pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) program would change retinal vessel diameters, as a proxy for improved microvascular health. Demographics and clinical characteristics, including pulmonary function, exercise capacity, blood pressure, blood measurements and level of systemic inflammation were obtained from 246 patients during routine assessment before and after PR. Retinal vessel diameters were measured from digital retinal images. Older age and higher systolic blood pressure were associated with narrower retinal arterioles (beta: -0.224; p=0.042 and beta: -0.136; p
Original language | English |
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Article number | 31 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Scientific Reports |
Volume | 10 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 8 Jan 2020 |
Keywords
- ATHEROSCLEROSIS RISK
- VASCULAR CALIBER
- CARDIOVASCULAR MORTALITY
- SYSTEMIC INFLAMMATION
- ENDOTHELIAL FUNCTION
- PHYSICAL-ACTIVITY
- DISEASE PATIENTS
- HYPERTENSION
- ARTERIOLAR
- DIAMETERS