129
Views
2
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Research Article

Variability of Measurement of Retinal Vessel Diameters

, , , , , , & show all
Pages 392-401 | Received 27 Dec 2012, Accepted 24 May 2013, Published online: 14 Nov 2013
 

Abstract

Purpose: To examine the effects of various cardiovascular, ocular, and lifestyle factors on retinal vessel diameters over short periods of time.

Methods: Subjects were invited to have photographs of their retina taken at each of three study visits. The same eye was photographed each time. The photographs were digitized and retinal vessel diameters were measured. Measurements from the retinal photographs taken consecutively (at visit 2 and visit 3), and 1, 3, and 4 weeks apart (between visits 1 and 2, 2 and 3, and 1 and 3, respectively) were compared.

Results: There were 63 persons who participated in all study visits and had gradable vessel measurements from all five images used in the analysis. Correlations for pairs of study visits were high, and decreased slightly with increasing length of the time interval. For consecutive photographs taken, and 1 week, 3 weeks, and 4 weeks apart, correlations were 0.95, 0.90, 0.91, and 0.86, respectively, for central retinal arteriolar equivalent (CRAE) and 0.95, 0.90, 0.91, and 0.87, respectively, for central retinal venular equivalent (CRVE). We examined the associations of blood pressure levels, smoking habits, time since last eating, exercising, consuming caffeine, and taking anti-hypertensive medication, and image focus with CRAE and CRVE. We found no consistent pattern of association of any of these characteristics with short-term changes in CRAE and CRVE.

Conclusion: Retinal vessel diameters are stable over short intervals of time and none of the factors studied were consistently associated with change in the diameters of either vessel type.

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 65.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 740.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.