Retinal Health Superior Among Individuals With Healthier Lifestyle Scores

People with healthier lifestyle scores are more likely to have better retinal neurovascular health, research published in British Journal of Ophthalmology suggests.

This study reviewed the role of inflammatory biomarkers in the relationship between health lifestyle and retinal health.

The researchers analyzed data from the UK Biobank’s 378,648 participants in the retinal disease samples, assigning patients healthy lifestyle scores based on 6 lifestyle behaviors: physical activity, diet, sleep duration, smoking status, alcohol consumption, and body weight.

Higher scores, which indicated greater overall health, were linked with better retinal health, as participants with healthy lifestyle scores of 5 to 6 exhibited 29% lower risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), 25% lower risk of retinal vascular occlusion (RVO), and 0.36 μm decline in central retinal vein equivalent (CRVE) compared with individuals with scores of 0 to 1. 

The group with scores of 5 to 6 also possessed a 2% greater artery-to-vein ratio (AVR), 0.22 μm increase in central retinal artery equivalent (CRAE), 0.004 increase in fractal dimension (FD), 0.38 μm rise in retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness, 0.69 μm rise in ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer (GCIPL) thickness, 0.10 μm in inner nuclear layer (INL) thickness, and 0.35 μm increase in photoreceptor segment (PS) thickness.

The researchers discovered that healthy body weight is linked with maximum increase in AVR (β 0.011), CRAE (β 0.24), FD (β, 0.003), and thickness of RNFL, outer plexiform layer-outer nuclear layer (OPLONL), and PS. Avoiding smoking was closely tied to low risk of AMD (hazard ratio [HR] 0.87) and decline in CRVE (β -0.23). Middling physical activity is linked with heightening of INL thickness (β, 0.08) and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) thickness (β 0.12). Best sleep length is tied to least risk of RVO (HR 0.79). Medium alcohol consumption is linked with greatest increase in GCIPL thickness (β 0.42).

Lower INFLA-scores, C-reactive protein, white blood cell count, and platelet count were tied with greater healthy life scores, moderate physical activity, healthy diet, optimal sleep duration, never smoking, and healthy body weight. Moderate alcohol consumption was associated with the inverse.

INFLA-score partially mediated the link between healthy lifestyle score and retinal health outcomes (ranging 4.97% to 26.86%) and indicators (9.12% to 25.19%). 

“This study found that participants with higher healthy lifestyle scores were associated with lower risks of AMD and RVO, and improved retinal neurovascular health in a dose-response manner,” according to the researchers. “Combining information on modifiable lifestyle factors with retinal measurements may improve risk prediction for systemic disease, complementing traditional risk factor assessment and enabling more personalised prevention strategies.”.

Study limitations include lack of functional indicators of retinal neurovascular health.

This article originally appeared on Ophthalmology Advisor