Associations Between Depression and Anxiety Symptoms and Retinal Vessel Caliber in Adolescents and Young Adults

Meier, Madeline H.; Gillespie, Nathan A.; Hansell, Narelle K.; Hewitt, Alex W.; Hickie, Ian B.; Lu, Yi; MacGregor, Stuart; Medland, Sarah E.; Wong, Tien Yin; Wright, Margaret J.; Zhu, Gu; Martin, Nicholas G.; Mackey, David A.

doi:10.1097/psy.0000000000000117

Cited by 31 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…In the Dunedin Study, individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia had wider venules than medical and psychiatric (i.e., persistent depression) comparison groups (Meier et al, 2013). In our sample of young adult twins, depression and anxiety symptoms were unrelated to venular diameter (Meier et al, 2014). Thus, initial findings suggest that wider venules may be specific to individuals with symptoms of psychosis, but further investigation is warranted.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…Smoking status was included as a covariate, as smoking is associated with both wider venular diameter and psychosis symptoms (Degenhardt et al, 2001; Ikram et al, 2012; Kelleher and Cannon, 2011; Meier et al, 2014; Morgan et al, 2014; Sun et al, 2009b). Body mass index was considered as a covariate because higher body mass index is associated with wider venular diameter (Ikram et al, 2012; Sun et al, 2009b) and is seen in psychosis (Foley et al, 2013; Morgan et al, 2014).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The condition of the retinal microvessels can used to gauge the condition of the microvessels in the heart and brain, because the microvasculatures of the retina, heart, and brain are similar (Cheung et al, 2012; Patton et al, 2005). Prior research has shown that the retinal microvessels are sensitive to a range of cardiovascular risks (Ikram et al, 2012; Sun et al, 2009b), and wider retinal venules (veins) predict risk of coronary heart disease (McGeechan et al, 2009a; Wong et al, 2006b), stroke (Cheung et al, 2013; McGeechan et al, 2009b; Wong et al, 2006b; Yatsuya et al, 2010), cognitive impairment (Shalev et al, 2013), and dementia (de Jong et al, 2011) independently of other cardiovascular risks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Retinal microvessels reflect familial vulnerability to psychotic symptoms: A comparison of twins discordant for psychotic symptoms and controls

Meier

Gillespie

Hansell

et al. 2015

Schizophrenia Research

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Mounting evidence suggests that individuals with schizophrenia have an underlying vulnerability to cardiovascular disease, and a recent study suggested that this vulnerability might be reflected in the retinal microvasculature. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that the retinal microvessels reflect familial vulnerability to psychotic symptoms. Participants were 531 adolescent and young adult twins who took part in the Brisbane Longitudinal Twin Study and the Twins Eye Study in Tasmania. The twins had photographs taken of their retina when they were adolescents or young adults (M age=20.6 years), and retinal vessel diameter was assessed using computer software. The twins completed an assessment of psychosis symptoms approximately six years later. We compared retinal venular diameters of individuals with one or more symptoms of psychosis (n=45), their unaffected co-twins (n=24), and controls (n=462). Individuals with one or more symptoms of psychosis had wider venules (standardized mean=0.29) than controls (standardized mean=-0.04; p=.03), and unaffected co-twins had venular diameters that were intermediate (standardized mean=0.13) between the two groups, suggesting that wide venules may represent a proxy marker of familial vulnerability to psychosis symptoms. Consistent with previous work, there were no differences in arteriolar diameter between individuals with and without symptoms of psychosis. Findings suggest that wide retinal venules may serve as a proxy marker of familial liability to psychosis symptoms. The pathophysiological mechanisms linking psychosis and cardiovascular disease may be operative from early in life, possibly at the level of the microvasculature.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Retinal microvessels reflect familial vulnerability to psychotic symptoms: A comparison of twins discordant for psychotic symptoms and controls

Meier

Gillespie

Hansell

et al. 2015

Schizophrenia Research

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“…retinopathy and nephropathy) in T1DM paediatric patients (Table 6) (Alibrahim et al 2006;Kifley et al 2007;Cheung et al 2009a;Gopinath et al 2010a;Sasongko et al 2010Sasongko et al , 2011Sasongko et al , 2012Benitez-Aguirre et al 2011Li et al 2011bLi et al , 2014Bronson-Castain et al 2012;Hosking et al 2013;Meier et al 2014;Yau et al 2014;Gishti et al 2015b). Except for four studies that were longitudinal (on T1DM young patients) (Kifley et al 2007;Benitez-Aguirre et al 2011Cheung et al 2009a), the rest of the studies were published on cross-sectional data (four on T1DM, two on hypertension, one on depression and anxiety, one on metabolic syndrome, and one on carotid plaque) (Bronson-Castain et al 2012;Gopinath et al 2010a;Hosking et al 2013;Li et al 2011bLi et al , 2014Meier et al 2014;Sasongko et al 2010Sasongko et al , 2011Sasongko et al , 2012Yau et al 2014). The majority of the papers (9 out of 14) had investigated microvascular changes and complications in T1DM (Kifley et al 2007;Cheung et al 2009a;Sasongko et al 2010Sasongko et al , 2011Sasongko et al , 2012Benitez-Aguirre et al 2011Bronson-Castain et al 2012;…”

Section: Systemic Risk Factors and Retinal Microvasculaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Retinal vascular imaging in early life: insights into processes and risk of cardiovascular disease

Ikram

Wong

2015

The Journal of Physiology

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Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality globally. In recent years, studies have shown that the origins of CVD may be traced to vascular and metabolic processes in early life. Retinal vascular imaging is a new technology that allows detailed non‐invasive in vivo assessment and monitoring of the microvasculature. In this systematic review, we described the application of retinal vascular imaging in children and adolescents, and we examined the use of retinal vascular imaging in understanding CVD risk in early life. We reviewed all publications with quantitative retinal vascular assessment in two databases: PubMed and Scopus. Early life CVD risk factors were classified into four groups: birth risk factors, environmental risk factors, systemic risk factors and conditions linked to future CVD development. Retinal vascular changes were associated with lower birth weight, shorter gestational age, low‐fibre and high‐sugar diet, lesser physical activity, parental hypertension history, childhood hypertension, childhood overweight/obesity, childhood depression/anxiety and childhood type 1 diabetes mellitus. In summary, there is increasing evidence supporting the view that structural changes in the retinal microvasculature are associated with CVD risk factors in early life. Thus, the retina is a useful site for pre‐clinical assessment of microvascular processes that may underlie the future development of CVD in adulthood.

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“…The results showed that symptoms of depression and anxiety showed a positive association with a wider retinal arteriolar caliber (P = 0.016), even after adjusting for other cardiovascular risk factors (P = 0.025), but not with CRVE. This shows that pathological microvascular mechanisms associated with depression/anxiety may be operative from a young age (24).…”

Section: Retinal Imagingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microvascular Abnormalities in Depression

Sadykov

Hosák

Studnička

et al. 2016

Iran J Psychiatry Behav Sci

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Context: Depression is a risk factor for vascular disease and vice versa. Identification of biological mechanisms common for depression and vascular pathology at microvascular level, and understanding their clinical significance may contribute to better treatment and prognosis of this combined physical/psychiatric disorder.Evidence Acquisition: We searched the PubMed computer database for the following key words "Microvascular AND Depression" on the 28th of October, 2015 to obtain relevant articles, which were consequently summarized to facilitate further research in the field of psychiatry. Results:The majority of studies support the suggestion that microvascular abnormality is associated with depression even if several documents do not necessarily support this idea. It seems probable that microvascular abnormality is only relevant in particular subtypes of depression, for example depression due to a general medical condition, late-life depression, or pharmacoresistant depression. The biological mechanisms by which microvascular abnormality is interconnected with depression may cover genetics, epigenetics, endothelial dysfunction, inflammation or hyperhomocysteinemia. Conclusions:Further research should be aimed at identifying biological mechanisms common in depression and microvascular pathology, including genetics and epigenetics, longitudinal studies of this subcategory of patients with depression, and possible pharmacotherapy overcoming the usual non-responsiveness. An active detection and aggressive treatment of physical diseases associated with microvascular pathology and depression, like hypertension, diabetes or inflammation, is warranted. This way, the patients experience less distress, their quality of life will increase, and societal cost of this vascular/psychiatric disorder will be reduced.

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Associations Between Depression and Anxiety Symptoms and Retinal Vessel Caliber in Adolescents and Young Adults

Cited by 31 publications

References 63 publications

Retinal microvessels reflect familial vulnerability to psychotic symptoms: A comparison of twins discordant for psychotic symptoms and controls

Retinal microvessels reflect familial vulnerability to psychotic symptoms: A comparison of twins discordant for psychotic symptoms and controls

Retinal vascular imaging in early life: insights into processes and risk of cardiovascular disease

Microvascular Abnormalities in Depression

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