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Retinal vein occlusion is associated with stroke independent of underlying cardiovascular disease

Eye volume 37, pages 764–767 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background

Stroke is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity. Thus, identifying associated risk factors may lead to earlier interventions aimed at reducing the risk of stroke development. Since cardiovascular disease simultaneously increases the risk of stroke and retinal vein occlusion (RVO), we sought to determine whether RVO is associated with the risk of stroke independent of underlying cardiovascular co-morbidities.

Methods

In this cross-sectional study, we reviewed the records of 80,754 individuals who were evaluated by an ophthalmologist over a 6-year period. We identified individuals with RVO, stroke and cardiovascular diseases including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, carotid disease, coronary artery disease and atrial fibrillation. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to analyze odds ratios for RVO and stroke.

Results

After adjusting for age, sex, cardiovascular disease and other risk factors, we found that the presence of RVO was associated with an odds ratio for stroke of 1.73 (CI, 1.40–2.12, p < 0.001). The association between RVO and stroke, after adjusting for sex and cardiovascular co-morbidities, was significantly stronger in individuals younger than 50 years of age, with an odds ratio of having a stroke of 3.06 (1.34–6.25, p < 0.001), while the presence of RVO in individuals older than 85 years was not significantly associated with stroke 1.19 (0.77–1.79, p = 0.41).

Conclusions

Our findings demonstrate that RVO is significantly associated with stroke, even after adjusting for underlying cardiovascular co-morbidities. This association was highly significant in younger subjects, while not significant in older individuals.

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Fig. 1: Frequencies of retinal vein occlusions and stroke.
Fig. 2: Odds ratio for stroke.

Data availability

The datasets analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

CYB is funded by AHA Award 857722 and NIDDK K23 DK129836. MFB is supported by NIH Research Grant P30CA016359 from the National Cancer Institute.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Section of Nephrology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Christine Y. Bakhoum

  2. School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Samantha Madala

  3. Department of Ophthalmology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Christopher K. Long

  4. Department of Medicine, Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Fatemeh Adabifirouzjaei & Anthony N. DeMaria

  5. Department of Ophthalmology, Shiley Eye Center, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

    William R. Freeman & Michael H. Goldbaum

  6. Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Mathieu F. Bakhoum

  7. Department of Pathology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA

    Mathieu F. Bakhoum

  8. Yale Cancer Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Mathieu F. Bakhoum

Authors
  1. Christine Y. Bakhoum
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  2. Samantha Madala
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  3. Christopher K. Long
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  4. Fatemeh Adabifirouzjaei
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  5. William R. Freeman
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  6. Michael H. Goldbaum
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  7. Anthony N. DeMaria
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  8. Mathieu F. Bakhoum
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Contributions

CYB and MFB designed the study. CYB, SM, SM, CKL, FA and MFB acquired and/or analyzed the data. CYB and MFB performed the statistical analysis. All authors participated in the writing and revision of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mathieu F. Bakhoum.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Bakhoum, C.Y., Madala, S., Long, C.K. et al. Retinal vein occlusion is associated with stroke independent of underlying cardiovascular disease. Eye 37, 764–767 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41433-022-02038-x

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