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Effect of niacin on retinal vascular diameter in patients with age-related macular degeneration
M R Barakat1, T I Metelitsina, J C DuPont
1Scheie Eye Institute, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
Purpose:
Niacin is a B vitamin well-known for causing vasodilation and flushing. The purpose of this study was to investigate its effect on the retinal vasculature of patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Methods:
Twelve patients with AMD were enrolled in a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover trial. Fundus photographs of the posterior pole were taken at baseline, 30 min, and 90 min after a single dose of niacin or placebo. The protocol was repeated after a washout period using the alternate study drug. The diameters of two veins and one artery on each image were measured.
Results:
An analysis of variance for repeated measures comparing the effects of niacin with those of placebo demonstrated a significant increase in the inferior temporal retinal artery diameter (p = 0.01), with a 5.3 +/- 7.7% increase at 30 min (p = 0.05) and 5.8 +/- 5.0% increase at 90 min (p = 0.003). No significant changes were observed in the temporal retinal veins.
Conclusions:
Our results suggest that niacin produces vasodilatation of retinal arterioles. Further studies are needed to ascertain whether niacin treatment may be beneficial in retinal ischemic diseases.
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