Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 11, 2026
Fundus Photography as a Convenient Tool to Study Microvascular Responses to Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in Epidemiological Studies
Published on: October 22, 2014
Retinal vascular calibres are significantly associated with cardiovascular risk factors: the Tromsø Eye Study
Therese von Hanno1, Geir Bertelsen, Anne K Sjølie
1Brain and Circulation Research Group, Department of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, NorwayDepartment of Ophthalmology, Nordland Hospital, Bodø, NorwayResearch Group of Epidemiology of Chronic Diseases, Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, NorwayDepartment of Ophthalmology and Neurosurgery, University Hospital of North Norway, Tromsø, NorwayDepartment of Ophthalmology, Odense University Hospital, Odense, DenmarkDepartment of Neurology and Neurophysiology, University Hospital of North Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
Purpose:
To describe the association between retinal vascular calibres and cardiovascular risk factors.
Methods:
Population-based cross-sectional study including 6353 participants of the Tromsø Eye Study in Norway aged 38-87 years. Retinal arteriolar calibre (central retinal artery equivalent) and retinal venular calibre (central retinal vein equivalent) were measured computer-assisted on retinal photographs. Data on blood pressure, body mass index (BMI), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) and smoking were collected. Association between retinal vessel calibre and the cardiovascular risk factors was assessed by multivariable linear and logistic regression analyses.
Results:
Retinal arteriolar calibre was independently associated with age, blood pressure, HbA1c and smoking in women and men, and with HDL cholesterol in men only. Blood pressure had the strongest effect on arteriolar calibre, with a decrease in calibre of 3.6 μm (women)/4.1 μm (men) per standard deviation increase in mean arterial blood pressure. Retinal venular calibre was independently associated with age, blood pressure, BMI, HDL and LDL cholesterol and smoking in men and women. The effect of BMI and HDL cholesterol on venular calibre was sigifnicantly stronger in men than in women. Current smoking was the most important factor for venular calibre, where smokers had 13.2 μm (women)/15.2 μm (men) wider calibre than nonsmokers.
Conclusion:
All the explored cardiovascular risk factors were independently associated with retinal vascular calibre, with stronger effect of HDL cholesterol and BMI in men than in women. Blood pressure and smoking contributed most to the explained variance.
