Retinal Vein Occlusion and the Risk of Dementia: A Nationwide Cohort Study

PURPOSE: Retinal vascular change is associated with changes in the brains of patients with dementia; however, there is limited evidence regarding the relationship between retinal vein occlusion (RVO) and risk of dementia. This study investigated the association between RVO and subsequent risk of dementia using a cohort consisting of the entire Korean population. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. METHODS: This study was based on the data from participants >= 40 years of age who underwent health examinations between 2009 and 2010 provided by the South Korean National Health Insurance Service. The RVO group (n = 46,259) consisted of patients whose initial diagnoses were between 2006 and 2010. The comparison group (3 perRVOpatient; n = 138,777) was selected using propensity score matching according to age, sex, and systolic blood pressure. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression models were performed. RESULTS: During a mean follow-up of 6.6 years, 14,727 cases of dementia developed. From the Kaplan-Meier curves, probabilities of cases for all types of dementia were significantly increased in the RVO group, relative to the comparison group (all log-rank P<.001). After all confounding variables were adjusted, the RVO group exhibited increased risks of subsequent all-cause dementia (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.16; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.12-1.21), Alzheimer's disease (HR: 1.15; 95% CI: 1.11-1.20), and vascular dementia (HR: 1.24; 95% CI: 1.12-1.37), relative to the comparison group. The presence of RVO was significantly associated with increased risks of all 3 types of dementia both in hypertensive and nonhypertensive individuals. CONCLUSIONS: In this large-scale population-based cohort study, RVO was significantly associated with increased risks of all-cause dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and vascular dementia. ((C) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Automated summary

The study revealed that retinal vein occlusion (RVO) was associated with an increased risk of subsequent dementia, including all-cause dementia, Alzheimer's disease, and vascular dementia. The presence of RVO may serve as a potential indicator for elevated risk of dementia diseases.