Table 3 Clinical features and retinal arteriole calibre in OSA plus hospital controls by quartile.

From: Obstructive sleep apnea, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and hypertensive microvascular disease: a cross-sectional observational cohort study

Retinal arteriole calibre

Clinical features in OSA and controls

90–129 µm (n = 48)

130–140 µm (n = 49)

141–155 µm (n = 49)

156–190 µm (n = 48)

OR, 95%CI, p value

Age (mean, SD, years)

66.9, 9.4

62.7, 11.1

69.1, 8.4

66.7, 8.6

0.93

Gender (male)

31 (65%)

26 (53%)

21 (43%)

22 (46%)

0.10

BMI (mean, SD, kg/m2)

31.1, 6.6

32.5, 9.4

28.2, 6.8

27.5, 7.6

0.02

Smoking history

21 (44%)

26 (53%)

28 (57%)

31 (65%)

0.06

Pack years (mean, SD)

32.5, 21.5

34.2, 17.8

27.9, 21.3

35.8, 32

0.7

Hypertension history

33 (69%)

26 (53%)

29 (59%)

22 (46%)

0.04

Mean arterial pressure (mean, SD, mmHg)

92.7, 13.2

91.8, 11.4

90.7, 10

89, 8

0.17

Dyslipidemia

16 (35%)

23 (47%)

20 (41%)

15 (31%)

1.00

Diabetes

11 (23%)

16 (33%)

12 (25%)

13 (27%)

0.80

Retinal venular calibre (mean, SD, µm)

189.6, 18.4

202, 20

211.2, 25.1

229, 23.8

< 0.01

OSA patients only

OSA (n = 79)

n = 34

n = 29

n = 10

n = 6

< 0.001

 Mild (n = 20)

7 (9%)

8 (10%)

3 (4%)

2 (3%)

0.12

 Moderate (n = 22)

9 (11%)

8 (10%)

4 (5%)

1 (1%)

0.04

 Severe (n = 37)

18 (23%)

13 (16%)

3 (4%)

3 (4%)

< 0.001

Mean pulse pressure (mean, SD, mmHg)

58.4, 13

56.1, 13

52.5, 17

51.0, 13

0.60

  1. Smaller retinal arteriole calibre was associated with a higher BMI (p = 0.02), a hypertension diagnosis (p = 0.04) and a smaller venular calibre (p < 0.01), and there was a trend with less smoking history (p = 0.06).
  2. In the patients with OSA, all OSA was associated with a smaller arteriole calibre (p < 0.001). Moderate and severe OSA were associated with a smaller arteriole calibre (p = 0.04, p < 0.001 respectively). Retinal arteriole calibre was not associated with mean pulse pressure (p = 0.60).
  3. Significant values are in bold.
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