title: Are Retinal Vessels Calibers Influenced by Blood Pressure Measured at the Time of Retinography Acquisition?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Retinal arterial narrowing is associated with higher office blood pressure (BP) and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, and increased incidence of cardiovascular disease, but it is still unknown if the vessel caliber is associated with BP measured at the time of retinography acquisition.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retinal arteriolar and venular calibers were measured by the microdensitometric method in 448 patients with hypertension. Participants underwent 24-hours ambulatory blood pressure (24-h ABP) monitoring simultaneously with the retinography acquisition. Association between arteriolar and venular calibers with increase of 10 mmHg in the mean 24-hours, daily, and nightly BP, and with BP measured at the time of retinography, was evaluated by ANOVA and multivariate analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean 24-hours, daytime and nighttime systolic and diastolic BP were inversely associated with the arteriolar caliber, but not with the venular caliber. Arteriolar caliber decreased -0.8 (95% CI -1.4 to -0.2) μm per 10-mmHg increase in 24-hours mean systolic BP, adjusted for age, gender, fellow vessel, and duration of hypertension (P = 0.01). The corresponding decreasing in arteriolar caliber by 10 mmHg of increasing in mean diastolic BP was -1.1 μm (-2.0 to -0.2, P = 0.02). The decrease of arteriolar caliber by the same increasing of BP measured at the time of retinography was lower and not statistically significant, particularly for mean diastolic BP and outer arterioles calibers: -1.0 (-1.8 to -0.2) μm in the daytime BP average versus -0.3 (-0.9 to 0.3) at the moment of retinography acquisition.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that the caliber of arteriolar retinal vessels in patients with uncontrolled hypertension are not significantly influenced by blood pressure measured at the time of retinography acquisition.
authors.affiliation: Postgraduate Studies Program in Epidemiology, School of Medicine, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, R. Ramiro Barcelos 2600, CEP 90035-003, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil; Postgraduate Studies Program in Cardiology, School of Medicine, and Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, R. Ramiro Barcelos 2600, CEP 90035-003, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Sandra C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Fuchs
authors.affiliation: Postgraduate Studies Program in Epidemiology, School of Medicine, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, R. Ramiro Barcelos 2600, CEP 90035-003, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Helena M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Pakter
authors.affiliation: Division of Ophthalmology, Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, R. Ramiro Barcelos 2350, CEP 90035-003, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marcelo K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Maestri
authors.affiliation: Postgraduate Studies Program in Cardiology, School of Medicine, and Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, R. Ramiro Barcelos 2600, CEP 90035-003, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Beltrami-Moreira
authors.affiliation: Postgraduate Studies Program in Cardiology, School of Medicine, and Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, R. Ramiro Barcelos 2600, CEP 90035-003, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gus
authors.affiliation: Postgraduate Studies Program in Epidemiology, School of Medicine, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, R. Ramiro Barcelos 2600, CEP 90035-003, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil; Postgraduate Studies Program in Cardiology, School of Medicine, and Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, R. Ramiro Barcelos 2600, CEP 90035-003, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Leila B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Moreira
authors.affiliation: Informatics Institute, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Caixa Postal 15064, CEP 91501-970, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
authors.forename: Manuel M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.affiliation: Postgraduate Studies Program in Cardiology, School of Medicine, and Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, R. Ramiro Barcelos 2600, CEP 90035-003, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil; National Institute of Science and Technology for Health Technology Assessment (IATS)-CNPq, Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre, UFRGS, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
authors.forename: Flavio D
authors.initials: FD
authors.lastname: Fuchs
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001794:Blood Pressure; D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory; D003941:Diagnostic Techniques, Ophthalmological; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012171:Retinal Vessels / Q000166:cytology*; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult