Regression of alterations in retinal microcirculation following treatment for arterial hypertension

Abstract

Evaluation of early hypertension-related alterations in retinal microcirculation has been subjective and poorly reproducible. The authors recently described a semiautomatic computerized system for evaluation of the calibre of retinal blood vessels that has shown very good reproducibility. In the study, this system was used to measure the calibres of retinal arterioles and veins, and their ratio, in a group of 51 hypertensive outpatients before and after 6 months of treatment with losartan or, if required for satisfactory blood pressure control, losartan plus hydrochlorothiazide. Mean retinal arteriole diameter increased from 0.0842 +/- 0.003 mm to 0.0847 +/- 0.003 mm (p = 0.001). Arteriovenous ratio increased from 0.753 +/- 0.03 to 0.756 +/- 0.03 (p = 0.005). This observation suggests regression of early hypertension-related alterations in retinal microcirculation after 6 months of antihypertensive treatment.

Figure

Mean diameters of retinal arterioles, and the arteriovenous ratio (AVR), before and after 6 months of antihypertensive treatment (left). Bars indicate 95% confidence intervals [CIs]. The differences in arteriole diameter and AVR (right) are statistically significant (p<0.001 and p=0.005, respectively). The correlation between baseline and final AVR is 0.957 (p=0.000). The 95% CIs of the variations of arteriole diameter and AVR ratio include no 0.000, confirming the difference between groups.