AUTHOR=Wang Ruilin , Kwapong William Robert , Tao Wendan , Cao Le , Ye Chen , Liu Junfeng , Zhang Shuting , Wu Bo 

TITLE=Association of retinal thickness and microvasculature with cognitive performance and brain volumes in elderly adults

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience

VOLUME=14

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/aging-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2022.1010548

DOI=10.3389/fnagi.2022.1010548

ISSN=1663-4365

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background</title><p>Retinal structural and microvascular changes can be visualized and have been linked with cognitive decline and brain changes in cerebral age-related disorders. We investigated the association between retinal structural and microvascular changes with cognitive performance and brain volumes in elderly adults.</p></sec><sec><title>Materials and methods</title><p>All participants underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and a battery of neuropsychological examinations. Macula retinal thicknesses (retinal nerve fiber layer, mRNFL, and ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer, GCIPL) were imaged and measured with swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) while Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCTA) imaged and measured the superficial vascular complex (SVC) and deep vascular complex (DVC) of the retina.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Out of the 135 participants, 91 (67.41%) were females and none had dementia. After adjusting for risk factors, Shape Trail Test (STT)-A correlated with SVC (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.001), DVC (<italic>P</italic> = 0.015) and mRNFL (<italic>P</italic> = 0.013) while STT-B correlated with SVC (<italic>P</italic> = 0.020) and GCIPL (<italic>P</italic> = 0.015). mRNFL thickness correlated with Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) (<italic>P</italic> = 0.007) and Stroop A (<italic>P</italic> = 0.030). After adjusting for risk factors and total intracranial volume, SVC correlated with hippocampal volume (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.001). Hippocampal volume correlated (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.05) with most cognitive measures. Stroop B (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.001) and Stroop C (<italic>P</italic> = 0.020) correlated with white matter volume while Stroop measures and STT-A correlated with gray matter volume (<italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.05).</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>Our findings suggest that the retinal structure and microvasculature can be useful pointers for cognitive performance, giving a choice for early discovery of decline in cognition and potential early treatment.</p></sec>