Characteristics and risk factors of retinal vasculopathy in antiphospholipid syndrome

Retinal vasculopathy including retinal artery occlusion (RAO) or retinal vein occlusion (RVO) was recently found to occur more frequently in antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) patients than non-APS patients. This study aims to investigate the clinical manifestation and risk factors of retinal vasculopathy among APS patients.

In this single-center prospective cohort study, we evaluated APS patients with or without retinal vasculopathy during 2018-2020 at Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Clinical variables were compared, and a logistical regression model was built to explore risk factors. Hierarchical cluster analysis using Euclidean distances was applied to identify clusters of variables.

A total of 310 APS patients (67.4% female, mean age 38.1 years) were included, of whom 18 (5.8%) were diagnosed with retinal vasculopathy (9 with RVO and 9 with RAO). No significant differences were found among most demographic characteristics, clinical manifestations, or antibody profiles. APS-related heart valve disease (odds ratio OR 13.66, 95% confidence interval CI 4.55-40.98), APS nephropathy (OR 12.77, 95% CI 4.04-40.35), and thrombocytopenia (OR 2.63, 95% CI 1.01-6.89) were predictive of retinal vasculopathy. APS-related heart valve disease and nephropathy were also found to be statistically significant predictors in multivariate logistical regression analysis. Non-criteria manifestations were aggregated with retinal vasculopathy from a cluster analysis of variables.

Patients with APS-related heart valve disease and nephropathy suffered a higher risk of retinal vasculopathy. The underlying mechanisms of aPL-associated retinal vasculopathy may involve thrombotic microangiopathy, leading to poor prognosis and therapeutic changes.