[Age-related characteristics of retinal vessels in aging (literature review).]

The changes of retinal vascular caliber and microvascular topography reflect the cumulative response to ageing, the influence of cardiovascular risk factors, inflammation, endothelial dysfunction. With objective to perform a systematic review of the studies which evaluate retinal vessels in ageing, we conducted the search of published reports (2003-2020). The review provided the evidence of narrowing of the caliber of retinal arterioles and venules in ageing; inverse relationship has been found in ethnically heterogeneous populations in a wide age range from 4th to 9th decade. The age dynamics of arteriovenous ratio (AVR) is evaluated less consistently. The available data showed the loss of complexity of the retinal microcirculatory bloodstream in elderly age, which might lead to a decrease in functional activity of microcirculation; however the studies are limited for systematic conclusions. The large population studies in Russia on this topic are practically absent. The researches of the microvascular retinal bloodstream in aging using the automatic analysis of the modern range of indicators, are relevant in the Russian population and will provide new data.