Age-Related Eye Diseases in Individuals With Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease

Abstract

IntroductionAlzheimer's disease (AD) and age-related eye diseases pose an increasing burden as the world's population ages. However, there is limited understanding on the association of AD/cognitive impairment, no dementia (CIND) with age-related eye diseases.MethodsIn this cross-sectional, memory clinic-based study of multiethnic Asians aged 50 and above, participants were diagnosed as AD (n = 216), cognitive impairment, no dementia (CIND) (n = 252), and no cognitive impairment (NCI) (n = 124) according to internationally accepted criteria. Retinal photographs were graded for the presence of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy (DR) using standard grading systems. Multivariable-adjusted logistic regression models were used to determine the associations between neurological diagnosis and odds of having eye diseases.ResultsOver half of the adults had at least one eye disease, with AMD being the most common (60.1%; n = 356), followed by DR (8.4%; n = 50). After controlling for age, sex, race, educational level, and marital status, persons with AD were more likely to have moderate DR or worse (OR = 2.95, 95% CI = 1.15–7.60) compared with NCI. In the fully adjusted model, the neurological diagnosis was not associated with AMD (OR = 0.75, 95% CI = 0.45–1.24).ConclusionPatients with AD have an increased odds of having moderate DR or worse, which suggests that these vulnerable individuals may benefit from specific social support and screening for eye diseases.

Diagnostic performance of light reflex pupillometry in Alzheimer's disease

“…While a substantial proportion of patients across diagnostic groups had ocular pathology, which is common in older age and populations of patients with dementia, 37 these factors did not affect the diagnostic ability of qLRP in sensitivity analyses. Earlier studies on qLRP have, with few exceptions, 38 excluded patients with even mild ocular disorders.…”

Single-cell transcriptome profiling highlights the role of APP in blood vessels in assessing the risk of patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy developing Alzheimer’s disease

“…Recent studies have found that the incidence of DR correlates with brain neurodegenerative diseases like AD, and both these are involved with neurodegeneration and abnormal vascular functioning during development ( Chua et al, 2022 ). A cohort study that included 134,327 diabetic patients above 60 years of age demonstrated that there was a higher percentage of patients with DR developing AD than diabetic patients without DR ( Pedersen et al, 2022 ).…”