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[Color vision defects in patients with arterial hypertension]
1Augenklinik der Medizinischen Hochschule Hannover, Carl-Neuberg-Strasse 1, 30625 Hannover.
Insights
Patients with arterial hypertension exhibit impaired color vision, even with normal eye exams. This finding is crucial for accurate color vision testing in clinical practice.
Area of Science:
- Ophthalmology
- Cardiology
- Visual Neuroscience
Context:
- Arterial hypertension is a widespread condition associated with vascular impairments.
- Assessing end-organ damage in hypertension is standard, but subclinical effects on vision are less understood.
- Color perception is a sensitive indicator of neural and vascular health.
Purpose:
- To investigate color perception in patients with arterial hypertension.
- To determine if arterial hypertension, without evident end-organ damage, affects color vision.
- To compare color vision performance between hypertensive patients and a healthy control group.
Summary:
- A study included 35 patients with arterial hypertension and 62 healthy controls, excluding those with other systemic or ophthalmological diseases.
- Standard ophthalmological examinations were normal in both groups.
- Hypertensive patients demonstrated significantly poorer performance on the Roth 28-hue color arrangement test compared to controls (p < 0.001).
Impact:
- Disturbed color vision can occur in arterial hypertension even when standard eye examinations are normal.
- These findings highlight the need to consider hypertension's impact on color vision during diagnostic testing.
- This research may help differentiate visual disturbances caused by arterial hypertension from those of primary ocular diseases like glaucoma.
Purpose:
In view of the generally impaired vascular condition in patients with arterial hypertension, we were interested in their colour perception.
Methods:
Patients (n = 35, f:m = 14:21, mean age 52 +/- 11 years) with arterial hypertension without damage in end-organs and normal subjects (n = 62, :m = 28:34, mean age 49 +/- 9 years) as a control group were included in this study. Exclusion criteria were other systemic or ophthalmological diseases. In addition to the ophthalmological examinations (visual acuity, refraction, intraocular pressure, slit lamp and fundus examination) the colour vision was tested by the colour arrangement test Roth 28-hue (E) desaturated under standard conditions: The background used was black cardboard, illuminated by two Osram fluorescent lamps (L36 W/12LDL Daylight) providing 2000 lux at the test table.
Results:
The ophthalmological examinations in the patients and in the control group were normal. The patients with arterial hypertension had a significantly higher mean error score (median +/- mean absolute deviation 150 +/- 56, Mann-Witney U-test: p < 0.001) in the colour arrangement test than the control group (median +/- mean absolute deviation 72 +/- 53.4). A particular colour axis (blue-yellow or red-green) was not found.
Conclusion:
Although the ophthalmological examinations were normal we found a disturbed colour vision in patients with arterial hypertension. This has to be taken into account in colour vision testing to avoid diagnostic interferences between specifically ocular diseases (e.g. glaucoma) and arterial hypertension.