Analysis of retinal blood vessel diameters in patients with COPD undergoing a pulmonary rehabilitation program

Analysis of Retinal Blood Vessel Diameters in Pregnant Women Practicing Yoga: A Feasibility Study

“…Our aim was not to compare responses with controls. The literature already reports dilation of the retinal blood vessels of healthy adults in response to exercise [ 26 , 27 , 28 ]. We only investigated retinal blood vessel diameter changes before and after yoga practice and did not analyze changes in other physical activity and exercise types during pregnancy.…”

“…For example, narrower retinal arterioles and broader retinal venules are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality [ 23 , 24 , 25 ]. Regular physical activity induces retinal arteriolar dilation and venular constriction, while acute bouts of exercise can result in both arteriolar and venular dilatation [ 21 , 26 , 27 , 28 ]. These examples illustrate that changes in retinal vessel metrics can assess cardiovascular effects.…”

Vascular Endothelial Damage in COPD: Where Are We Now, Where Will We Go?

“…Despite the proven association between retinal vessel diameter and cardiovascular risk, in-depth studies have not been conducted yet [10]. Studying microvascular reactivity is one of the most effective ways to assess endothelial function, as alterations in reactivity could be used as a surrogate marker of its function, but more data are required to confirm this theory [10][11][12]30].…”

“…The research work retrieved 17 articles, of which 7 were excluded because they lacked data of interest. In detail, three studies assessed the microvasculature through highresolution images of retinal blood vessels [10,12,31]; three studies evaluated endothelial functioning by both FMD and nitrate-mediated dilatation (NMD) [32,35,36]; one review evaluated articles with different assessment methods such as optical coherence tomography (OCT), retinal fundus imaging, retinal oximetry, and colour Doppler ultrasonography [37]; one study measured peripheral endothelial dysfunction by using the EndoPat-2000 [33]; one study measured retinal vessel calibres, urine albumin, and myocardial blood flow on MRI as markers of microvascular dysfunction [39]; and lastly, one review included several methods for detecting endothelial dysfunction such as FMD, peripheral arterial tonometry (PAT), flow-mediated skin fluorescence (FMSF), and forearm blood flow after bradykinin infusion (VOP) [34].…”

“…These comorbidities largely contribute to Diagnostics 2024, 14, 950 2 of 13 increasing COPD's severity and accelerate the disease's progression, leading to progressive deterioration in quality of life, resulting in poorer clinical outcomes [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. In-depth studies of this pathology and progress in our knowledge of the underlying pathogenetic mechanisms have led to evidence in the literature that support a strict correlation between chronic systemic inflammation, which characterizes COPD patients, and comorbidities that are commonly associated with COPD, especially cardiovascular comorbidities [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. In particular, this generally increased inflammatory state plays an important role in promoting atherosclerotic mechanisms, which are obviously a main cause of cardiovascular events [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32].…”