Analysis of risk and protective factors associated with retinal nerve fiber layer defect in a Chinese adult population.

AIM: To investigate the risk and protective factors associated with the retinal nerve fiber layer defect (RNFLD) in a Chinese adult population. METHODS: This study was a cross-sectional population-based investigation including employees and retirees of a coal mining company in Kailuan City, Hebei Province. All the study participants underwent a comprehensive systemic and ophthalmic examination. RNFLD was diagnosed on fundus photographs. Binary logistic regression was used to investigate the risk and protective factors associated with the RNFLD. RESULTS: The community-based study included 14 440 participants. There were 10 473 participants in our study, including 7120 males (68.0%) and 3353 females (32.0%). The age range was 45-108y, averaging 59.56±8.66y. Totally 568 participants had RNFLD and the prevalence rate was 5.42%. A higher prevalence of RNFLD was associated with older age [P<0.001, odds ratio (OR): 1.032; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.018-1.046], longer axial length (P=0.010, OR: 1.190; 95%CI: 1.042-1.359), hypertension (P=0.007, OR: 0.639; 95%CI: 0.460-0.887), and diabetes mellitus (P=0.019, OR: 0.684; 95%CI: 0.499-0.939). The protective factors of RNFLD were visual acuity (P=0.038, OR: 0.617; 95%CI: 0.391-0.975), and central anterior chamber depth (P=0.046, OR: 0.595; 95%CI: 0.358-0.990). CONCLUSION: In our cross-sectional community-based study, with an age range of 45-108y, RNFLD is associated with older age, longer axial length, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus. The protective factors of RNFLD are visual acuity and central anterior chamber depth. These can help to predict and evaluate RNFLD related diseases and identify high-risk populations early.

The Influence of Diabetes, Hypertension, and Hyperlipidemia on the Onset of Age-Related Macular Degeneration in North China: The Kailuan Eye Study.

Objective: To analyze the prevalence of dry and wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in patients with diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidemia, and to analyze the risk factors for AMD. Methods: A population-based cross-sectional epidemiologic study was conducted involving 14,440 individuals. We assessed the prevalence of dry and wet AMD in diabetic and non-diabetic subjects and analyzed the risk factors for AMD. Results: The prevalence of wet AMD in diabetic and non-diabetic patients was 0.3% and 0.5%, respectively, and the prevalence of dry AMD was 17% and 16.4%, respectively. The prevalence of wet AMD in healthy, hypertensive, hyperlipidemic, and hypertensive/hyperlipidemic populations was 0.5%, 0.3%, 0.2%, and 0.7%, respectively. The prevalence of dry AMD in healthy, hypertensive, hyperlipidemic, and hypertensive/hyperlipidemic populations was 16.6%, 16.2%, 15.2%, and 17.2%, respectively. Age, sex, body mass index, and use of hypoglycemic drugs or lowering blood pressure drugs were corrected in the risk factor analysis of AMD. Diabetes, diabetes/hypertension, diabetes/hyperlipidemia, and diabetes/hypertension/hyperlipidemia were analyzed. None of the factors analyzed in the current study increased the risk for the onset of AMD. Conclusion: There was no significant difference in the prevalence of wet and dry AMD among diabetic and non-diabetic subjects. Similarly, there was no significant difference in the prevalence of wet and dry AMD among subjects with hypertension and hyperlipidemia. Diabetes co-existing with hypertension and hyperlipidemia were not shown to be risk factors for the onset of dry AMD.

Retinal vein occlusion and chronic kidney disease: A meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES: We performed this meta-analysis to assess the correlation of retinal vein occlusion (RVO) and chronic kidney disease (CKD). METHODS: We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane Library for population-based studies reporting the CKD as associated factor to RVO, central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) or branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO). Then we pooled the data for analysis. RESULTS: After screening potential literature, 12 eligible studies with 23,656,214 individuals were finally included in quantitative synthesis. The pooled prevalence (95% confidence interval [CI]) of CKD in RVO group was 10.9% (95% CI: 6.6%, 15.1%). The pooled prevalence of any RVO in end stage renal disease (ESRD) group was 1.8% (95% CI: 1.6%, 2.1%). The prevalence of CKD was significantly higher in subjects diagnosed with RVO than non-RVO participants (odds ratio [OR]: 3.30; 95% CI: 2.28, 4.76; p < 0.001). CRVO subjects had a higher prevalence of CKD than BRVO patients (OR: 2.17; 95% CI: 1.28, 4.66; p = 0.004). In a similar manner, compared to non-ESRD subjects, ESRD patients had significantly higher prevalence of RVO (OR: 2.19; 95% CI: 1.97, 2.43; p < 0.001), CRVO (OR: 2.61; 95% CI: 2.17, 3.15; p < 0.001) and BRVO (OR: 2.01; 95% CI: 1.76, 2.30; p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of CKD increases in RVO patients, especially in CRVO. And in turn, the prevalence of RVO also increases in ESRD patients. The data support a correlation of RVO and CKD.

Culture and identification of endothelial progenitor cells from human umbilical cord blood.

AIM: To elucidate a simple method for isolating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) from human umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells and observe the endothelial cell-specific expression profile during proliferation and differentiation in vitro. METHODS: Human umbilical cord blood were isolated by Percoll density gradient centrifugation from human cord blood and cultured in vitro. The adherent cells were then identified by immunohistochemical staining and flow cytometric analysis. CD(34), vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR-2), EPCs specific antigen CD(133), as well as endothelial cell specific markers CD(31) and vWF were used. The cells were characterized by acetylated LDL (acLDL) up-taking and lectin binding by direct fluorescentstaining. RESULTS: During culture, the attached cells exhibited spindle-shape in early stage, and gradually display endothelium-like cobblestone morphology with outgrowth. On day 7, flow cytometric analysis showed that the positive staining rate of attached cells for CD(133), CD(34) and VEGFR-2 were 17.8%±3.7%, 22.1%±4.4% and 81.5%±5.0%, respectively. While, immunohistochemical staining showed that the adherent cells were positive to CD(31) and vWF at the rate of 92.7%±2.2% and 73.3%±4.2%, respectively. By direct fluorescentstaining, we observed that 83.0%±4.3% of the attached cells were double positive for DiI-acLDL and FITC-UEA-I. CONCLUSION: EPCs can be separated from human cord blood under certain conditions in vitro. This observation may provide a basis for study of relationship between EPCs and retinal neovascularization, as well as further clinical application of EPCs in ischemic retinal lesions.