Hypercholesterolemia is associated with visual field alterations detectable with computerized perimetry

Computerized perimetry analysis of the visual field enables the capacity of the visual cortex to process the electric impulse received from the eyeball to be detected. Considering that hypercholesterolemia can cause cognitive worsening by altering the functioning of the cerebral cortex, we attempted to determine whether it can affect the cortical processing of the visual stimuli, as detected by computerized perimetry. We undertook computerized perimetry analysis of 208 male and female patients (mean age, 48.5 years) with plasma low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol concentrations above 3.36 mmol/L and compared the results with the same number of matched controls with LDL cholesterol concentrations below 3.36 mmol/L. No subject had any neuro-ophthalmological disease that could have affected the results. A Humphrey 745 computerized perimetry device was used to measure the mean deviation, the pattern standard deviation, the corrected pattern standard deviation, short-term fluctuations and the foveal threshold. Compared with the control subjects, the patients with hypercholesterolemia showed worsening in all the perimetry variables analyzed. Moreover, we also found a direct association between plasma LDL cholesterol concentrations and the perimetry alterations, and an inverse association between these alterations and the figures for HDL cholesterol. Our data show that computerized perimetry can detect alterations in the visual field of persons with hypercholesterolemia, suggesting that increased plasma concentrations of cholesterol may have a negative influence on the visual neuron cells.