The association of retinal thickness measurements with cognitive impairment in a Japanese population

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26460778
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Epidemiology and preventive medicine
• Research Institution: 独立行政法人国立病院機構(東京医療センター臨床研究センター)
• Principal Investigator: SASAKI MARIKO 独立行政法人国立病院機構(東京医療センター臨床研究センター), その他部局等, 研究員 (60276342)
• Research Collaborator: TSUBOTA KAZUO 慶應義塾大学, 大学病院, 教授 ; SAWADA NORIE 国立がん研究センター, 疫学研究部, 室長 ; MIMURA MASARU 慶應義塾大学, 大学病院, 教授
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 認知症 / 網膜厚 / 光干渉断層計 / コホート研究

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this cross-sectional population based study, 1287 participants underwent cognitive assessment to diagnose as normal, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or dementia. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) measurements such as macular retinal thickness, macular inner retinal layer thickness and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness were calculated. After adjusting for age, gender and refraction, thinner macular retinal thickness and macular inner layer retinal thickness were associated with an increased likelihood of having dementia, whereas no association was found with having MCI. There was no association of peripapillary RNFL thickness with either having MCI or dementia.
Our results suggest that OCT could be a potentially useful diagnostic tool in the evaluation of dementia. Longitudinal studies are warranted to confirm this observation.

Free Research Field

眼科学　網膜疾患　疫学研究