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Updated: Nov 19, 2025
Using Retinal Imaging to Study Dementia
Published on: November 6, 2017
Relationship between Retinal Vascular Occlusions and Cognitive Dementia in a Large Cross-Sectional Cohort
Alison X Chan1, Christine Y Bakhoum1, Katherine J Bangen1
1From the Viterbi Family Department of Ophthalmology (AXC, MFB), Shiley Eye Institute, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA; Division of Pediatric Nephrology (CYB), Rady Children's Hospital San Diego, University of California San Diego, San Diego, California, USA; Research Service (KJB), Veterans' Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, La Jolla, California, USA; Department of Psychiatry (KJB), University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California.
Purpose:
To examine the association between cognitive dementia and retinal vascular occlusions.
Design:
A retrospective, cross-sectional study.
Methods:
Single-institution study population: we reviewed the electronic medical records of 37,208 individuals older than 65 years of age who were evaluated by an ophthalmologist or an optometrist and who also had a medical visit to our institution over a 6-year period. Individuals with and without retinal vascular occlusions were identified by International Classification of Diseases, version 10 (ICD-10) diagnostic codes.
Main Outcome:
we analyzed the association between dementia and retinal vascular occlusions after adjusting for covariates which included age, sex, stroke, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension using multiple logistic regression analyses.
Results:
Compared to subjects without retinal vascular occlusions, those with retinal vascular occlusions had a higher prevalence of dementia (6.7% vs. 9.3%, respectively; P < .001). After adjusting for either age or stroke, there were no significant associations between retinal vascular occlusions and dementia.
Conclusions:
Individuals with retinal vascular occlusions have a higher prevalence of dementia. However, this association is secondary to shared underlying risk factors in this population, such as older age and stroke.
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