title: Retinal vascular calibers associate differentially with cerebral gray matter and white matter atrophy.
abstract: Cerebral small-vessel disease is thought to contribute to brain atrophy, but it remains unclear whether it affects the gray matter and white matter atrophy differentially. Retinal vessels provide a direct measure to study cerebral small-vessel disease in vivo. In a cohort of 1065 persons (mean age, 67.5 y and 51% women), from the population-based Rotterdam Study, we investigated how retinal vascular calibers relate to brain atrophy and to gray matter and white matter atrophy separately. Retinal arteriolar and venular calibers were semiautomatically measured on digitized fundus transparencies. Using automated quantification of MRI scans, we obtained whole-brain volume and volumes of gray matter and white matter. Both narrower arteriolar and wider venular calibers were associated with smaller brain volume, independent from each other. These associations were primarily driven by smaller white matter volume, whereas no associations were seen for gray matter volume. Adjustments for cardiovascular risk factors attenuated the results, but wider venular caliber remained borderline significantly associated with smaller white matter volume. Our data provide evidence that cerebral small-vessel disease contributes to brain atrophy primarily by affecting the cerebral white matter.
authors: Departments of *Epidemiology †Ophthalmology ¶Neurology #Radiology **Medical Informatics, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Rotterdam ††Faculty of Applied Sciences, Technical University Delft, Delft, The Netherlands ‡Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore National Eye Centre §Department of Ophthalmology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore ∥Memory, Aging & Cognition Centre, National University Health System, Singapore, Singapore.
authors: Mohammad K
authors: MK
authors: Ikram
authors: Frank J
authors: FJ
authors: de Jong
authors: Meike W
authors: MW
authors: Vernooij
authors: Albert
authors: A
authors: Hofman
authors: Wiro J
authors: WJ
authors: Niessen
authors: Aad
authors: A
authors: van der Lugt
authors: Caroline C
authors: CC
authors: Klaver
authors: Mohammad A
authors: MA
authors: Ikram
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001284:Atrophy / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D059345:Cerebral Small Vessel Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009413:Nerve Fibers, Myelinated / Q000473:pathology*; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods; D012171:Retinal Vessels / Q000473:pathology*