Analyzing the association between age-related macular degeneration, retinal vascular occlusions, and dementia

PurposeTo investigate the association between age-related macular degeneration (AMD), retinal artery occlusion (RAO), and retinal vein occlusion (RVO) and the future development of Alzheimer's disease (AD), vascular dementia (VaD), and all-cause dementia (ACD).MethodsRetrospective propensity score-matched cohort study using TriNetX, a confederated healthcare network. The study population included 91,296 AMD, 15,372 RAO, 35,862 RVO, and 3,076,291 population control (PC) patients aged 65 and older. Propensity score matching was applied to control for baseline demographics and health characteristics. The primary outcome was the measured risk of developing AD, VaD, and ACD following incident diagnosis of AMD, RAO, or RVO.Major FindingsAMD was associated with a significantly elevated risk of AD (HR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.17-1.34; P < 0.001), VaD (HR, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.11-1.31; P < 0.001), and ACD (HR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.08-1.16; P < 0.001) following diagnosis with an average follow up of 45.0 ± 36.7 months. RVO patients also displayed higher risks across all dementia types (AD: HR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.22-1.74; P < 0.001; VaD: HR, 1.51; 95% CI, 1.23-1.87; P < 0.001; ACD: HR, 1.34; 95% CI, 1.22-1.47; P < 0.001) with an average follow up of 46.6 ± 37.9 months.ConclusionsRetinal disease diagnoses may correlate with increased dementia risk. While AMD and RVO are associated with all dementias (AD, VaD, and ACD), RAO did not increase dementia risk.