Retinal venular calibre is increased in patients with autoimmune rheumatic disease: A case-control study

Abstract

Aim: To examine retinal vessel calibre in autoimmune rheumatic disease. Materials and methods: Patients with autoimmune rheumatic disease were recruited from a Rheumatology clinic. Retinal vessel calibre was measured from fundus photographs, and summarised as the central retinal artery and vein equivalents (CRAE and CRVE) using a semi-automated computer-assisted method. Results: The 124 patients studied had rheumatoid arthritis (n=76, 61%), systemic lupus erythematosus (n=17, 14%), psoriatic arthritis (n=11, 9%) or another rheumatological disease (n=20, 16%). Retinal venular calibre was increased in patients with autoimmune rheumatic disease (+11.6μm, 95% Confidence interval [CI] 3.8-19.3, p=0.01) compared with other hospital patients, after adjusting for baseline differences. This increase was also present in the subgroup with rheumatoid arthritis (p=0.01). Patients with a rheumatic disease and elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) levels had wider retinal venules than those with a lower CRP (mean CRVE: 247.8±28.0 versus 216.6±25.3, p