Associations between cardiac function and retinal microvascular geometry among Chinese adults

Abnormal retinal microvascular geometry has been associated with cardiac remodeling and heart failure. However, its relation to cardiac function, prior to clinical disease has not been explored. In this cross-sectional study, 50 participants (mean age 62.5 ± 11.7 years) without cardiovascular disease (CVD) were recruited from the Cardiac Ageing Study. Transthoracic echocardiography imaging was performed to measure cardiac function indices, and retinal imaging was used to measure retinal vascular caliber and retinal vascular geometric indices. Multiple linear regressions were applied to examine associations between indices of cardiac function and retinal microvasculature, adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, mean blood pressure and comorbidity (i.e. hypertension, diabetes and dyslipidemia). After adjusting for confounders, each unit decrease in peak systolic septal mitral annular velocity (Septal S′) indicating poorer left function was associated with smaller retinal venular branching angle (β: − 2.69°; 95% CI − 4.92, − 0.46). Furthermore, each unit increase in peak velocity flow in late diastole by atrial contraction (MV A Peak) indicating poorer left atrial function was associated with lower retinal venular fractal dimension (− 0.13Df; − 0.25, − 0.004). Our findings suggested a relationship between poorer cardiac function and suboptimal retinal microvascular geometry, among Chinese without CVD.