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Updated: Sep 10, 2026
Retinal Vascular Reactivity as Assessed by Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography
Published on: March 26, 2020
Resistance of iris vascular structure to obesity: an anterior segment optical coherence tomography angiography study
Selma Beyatli1, Ibrahim Ethem Ay2, Tugce Horozoglu Ceran2
1Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Afyonkarahisar Health Sciences University, 03000, Afyonkarahisar, Turkey. beyatliselma@gmail.com.
Purpose:
To quantitatively evaluate iris and limbal vascular density using anterior segment optical coherence tomography angiography (AS-OCTA) in pediatric and adult participants across different body mass index (BMI) categories and to investigate the potential effects of obesity on anterior segment microcirculation.
Methods:
This prospective cross-sectional study included 300 participants: 200 adults (≥ 19 years) and 100 children (4-17 years). Adult participants were classified according to the World Health Organization BMI criteria, whereas pediatric participants were categorized using age- and sex-specific BMI-for-age percentiles. Iris and limbal vascular density were measured using AS-OCTA in the superotemporal, superonasal, inferonasal, and inferotemporal quadrants. Adult and pediatric groups were analyzed separately.
Results:
No significant differences in iris or limbal vascular density were observed among BMI categories in adults (all P > 0.05). Likewise, iris vascular density did not differ significantly among BMI-for-age categories in children. However, limbal vascular density differed significantly in the superotemporal (P = 0.014) and inferotemporal (P = 0.040) quadrants in the pediatric group. Post hoc analysis demonstrated a significant difference only between the normal-weight and obese groups in the superotemporal quadrant, whereas no significant pairwise differences were identified in the inferotemporal quadrant.
Conclusions:
Obesity was not associated with widespread alterations in anterior segment vascular density in adults, whereas localized limbal vascular differences were observed in children. These findings suggest that obesity-related anterior segment microvascular changes may be region-specific and age-dependent. Larger longitudinal studies are needed to clarify the clinical significance of these findings and to determine the potential role of AS-OCTA in the assessment of obesity-related ocular microvascular alterations.
