Impact of retinal vein occlusion on cardiovascular events in elderly Japanese patients

Abstract To assess the relationship between retinal vein occlusion (RVO) and the incidence of cardiovascular (CV) events. This was a single-institution, retrospective cohort study. We enrolled 57 patients diagnosed with RVO between January 2012 and December 2019, and 125 non-RVO patients who had undergone cataract surgery by a single surgeon between January and April 2012. We compared the relative risk and incidence rate ratio of CV events between the 2 groups. In addition, survival analysis was performed to calculate the hazard ratio (HR) using the Cox proportional hazards model. RVO, age, sex, blood pressure, body mass index, presence of diabetes, blood sample data, and smoking were considered confounders. The mean observation period (± standard deviation) for the RVO and non-RVO groups was 2.68 ± 2.04 and 2.81 ± 2.70 years, respectively. Seven CV events were observed in the RVO group and 2 in the non-RVO group. Relative risk and incidence rate ratio were 7.68 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.65–35.8) and 8.07 (95% CI: 1.54–79.6), respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed that the RVO group had a high HR for CV events (HR: 16.13 [95% CI: 2.29–113.74]) and older age (HR: 1.26 [95% CI: 1.06–1.49]). RVO can predict future CV events, especially in the elderly population. Fundus observations should be shared between ophthalmologists and internists to prevent future CV events.