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Retinal Vascular Parameters and Their Determinants in Healthy Turkish Children Aged 2-10 Years: A Cross-Sectional
Ata Baytaroğlu1, Şerife Nur Çiftci2, Mesut Saka3
1Ophthalmology, Uşak Training and Research Hospital, Uşak, Türkiye.
Purpose:
To provide normative values for retinal vascular parameters and their determinants in healthy Turkish children aged 2 to 10 years.
Methods:
In this cross-sectional study, 513 healthy children (247 girls, 266 boys) attending outpatient clinics for routine or well-child visits were enrolled. The left eye was studied by protocol. After mydriasis, fundus photographs were taken with a Canon CX-1 camera, and CRAE, CRVE, and the arteriole-to-vein ratio from equivalents (AVRe) were derived by the Knudtson-Parr-Hubbard formulas within the RMHAS module and reported in pixels. Multivariable regression examined AVRe, and separately CRAE and CRVE, against age, sex, body mass index (BMI), mean arterial pressure (MAP), and intraocular pressure (IOP), with axial length as a covariate in the caliber models.
Results:
The mean age was 5.82 ± 2.38 years. AVRe was 0.677, CRAE 15.70 px, and CRVE 23.24 px. AVRe decreased with age (trend β = -0.0039 per year, p < 0.001). Lower AVRe was independently associated with higher MAP (β = -0.0009, p = 0.002) and higher IOP (β = 0.0017, p = 0.013). MAP was associated with narrower CRAE (p < 0.001) but not CRVE, and IOP with wider CRAE (p = 0.008), indicating that both associations acted through the arteriolar compartment. The age-group × MAP and age-group × IOP interactions were not significant. Sex and BMI showed no association.
Conclusion:
This study provides age-specific normative retinal vascular values for Turkish children. The age-related decline of AVRe and its inverse association with blood pressure, driven by arteriolar narrowing, support retinal vessel measurement as a marker of microvascular health in young children.
