Influence of age and gender on the pulse waveform in optic nerve head circulation in healthy men and women

Abstract

The influences of age and gender differences on the pulse waveform in the optic nerve head (ONH) in healthy adults, using laser speckle flowgraphy (LSFG) were evaluated. We studied 908 healthy subjects (men = 701, age: 50.0 ± 9.1, women = 208, age: 49.8 ± 9.5, p = 0.76), evaluating these pulse waveform parameters: the blowout score (BOS), blowout time (BOT), acceleration time index (ATI), and the rising and falling rates. The parameters were analyzed separately for the tissue, vessels, and throughout the optic nerve head (All). All parameters were compared between genders. We investigated which independent factors for the pulse waveform in the ONH is most strongly correlated with age. All sections of the BOS, BOT, ATI, and falling rate showed a significant gender difference. A univariate regression analysis revealed that BOT-Tissue showed the strongest correlation with age (r = −0.51). The factors contributing independently to the BOT-Tissue were gender, age, heart rate, mean arterial blood pressure, pulse pressure, spherical refraction, and estimated glomerular filtration rate. Among the subjects aged >41 years, the chronological changes of BOT-Tissue in the women were significantly lower than those in the men. We concluded that the pulse waveform in the ONH has clear differences between the genders and shows chronological changes.

Characterization of laser speckle flowgraphy pulse waveform parameters for the evaluation of the optic nerve head and retinal circulation

“…Thus, changes in the MT- or MV-RR will be correlated with changes in HR. Previous studies have reported that women have higher MT- 6 and MV-RR 17 compared to men 7 – 9 , which was consistent with the current result.…”

“…In the current study, MT- and MV-BOS showed a significant negative correlation with age and a positive correlation with DBP and HR in healthy participants (Table 4 ). These results suggest that the decrease in MT- or MV-BOS systemically reflects an age-related increase in the stiffness of large arteries, consistent with the previous results 6 , 17 , and are compatible with a very strong negative correlation of MT- or MV-BOS to the resistivity index (Spearman’s correlation coefficient: − 0.997– − 0.991). The opposite direction of correlation of MT- or MV-BOS to age and DBP may be explained as previously described for MT- or MV-Skew.…”

“…In the current study, MT- and MV-BOT showed a significant negative correlation with age, and MT-BOT showed a positive correlation with HR (Table 4 ). Shiba et al suggested that the decrease in MT-BOT reflected the age-related increase in the stiffness in large arteries and/or systemic vascular resistance 21 , being compatible with its negative correlation with age in the current and previous results 6 , 16 , 17 , 21 . Since no significant correlation to ocular parameters was currently found for MT- and MV-BOT, these waveform parameters may be more sensitively reflect systematic vascular changes associated with aging rather than ocular circulatory status.…”

“…While several studies have looked at the differences of LSFG pulse waveform parameters between the glaucoma and normal eyes 24 – 26 or between sexes 6 , 7 , 17 , it is still largely unclear which LSFG pulse waveform parameters reflect the pathophysiology of ocular fundus circulation more effectively. We assumed that there should be particularly useful waveform parameters for ocular circulation studies.…”

“…We assumed that there should be particularly useful waveform parameters for ocular circulation studies. The objective of this study is to investigate the ophthalmologic implications of seven MT- and MV-LSFG pulse waveform parameters through careful examination of healthy Japanese according to the predetermined uniform measurement protocol and investigate how the known quantitative indices of ocular fundus circulation, that is, MT, MV, and central retinal artery and vein equivalents (CRAE and CRVE) were correlated with seven pulse waveform parameters after adjustment for systemic parameters 6 , 16 , 17 and the ONH structural parameters.…”