A new method to measure peripheral retinal vascular caliber over an extended area.

Journal Article (Journal Article)

OBJECTIVE: To describe a new computer-assisted method to measure retinal vascular caliber over an extended area of the fundus. METHODS: Retinal photographs taken from participants of the Singapore Malay Eye Study (n = 3280) were used for this study. Retinal vascular caliber was measured and summarized as central retinal artery equivalent (CRAE) and central retinal vein equivalent (CRVE) using a new semi-automated computer-based program. Measurements were made at the Standard zone (from 0.5 to 1.0 disk diameter) and an Extended zone (from 0.5 to 2.0 disk diameter). RESULTS: Reliability of retinal vascular caliber measurement was high for the new Extended zone (intraclass correlation coefficients >0.90). Associations of CRAE with blood pressure were identical between the Extended and Standard zones (linear regression coefficient -2.53 vs. -2.61, z-test between the two measurements, p = 0.394). Associations of CRAE and CRVE with other cardiovascular risk factors were similar between measurements in the two zones. The R² of regression models for the Extended zone was slightly higher than that for the Standard zone for both CRAE (R², 0.324 vs. 0.288) and CRVE (R², 0.325 vs. 0.265). CONCLUSIONS: The new measures from Extended zone are comparable with the previous measures, and also more representative of retinal vascular caliber.

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Cheung, CY-L; Hsu, W; Lee, ML; Wang, JJ; Mitchell, P; Lau, QP; Hamzah, H; Ho, M; Wong, TY

Published Date

  • October 2010

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 17 / 7

Start / End Page

  • 495 - 503

PubMed ID

  • 21040115

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1549-8719

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1111/j.1549-8719.2010.00048.x

Language

  • eng

Conference Location

  • United States