Retinal Venular Calibre is Increased in Patients with Autoimmune Rheumatic Disease: A Case-Control Study.

Aim: To examine retinal vessel calibre in autoimmune rheumatic disease. Materials and methods: Patients with autoimmune rheumatic disease were recruited from a Rheumatology clinic. Retinal vessel calibre was measured from fundus photographs, and summarised as the central retinal artery and vein equivalents (CRAE and CRVE) using a semi-automated computer-assisted method. Results: The 124 patients studied had rheumatoid arthritis ( n = 76, 61%), systemic lupus erythematosus ( n = 17, 14%), psoriatic arthritis ( n = 11, 9%) or another rheumatological disease ( n = 20, 16%). Retinal venular calibre was increased in patients with autoimmune rheumatic disease (+11.6 µm, 95% Confidence interval [CI] 3.8 - 19.3, p = 0.01) compared with other hospital patients, after adjusting for baseline differences. This increase was also present in the subgroup with rheumatoid arthritis ( p = 0.01). Patients with a rheumatic disease and elevated C-reactive protein (CRP) levels had wider retinal venules than those with a lower CRP (mean CRVE: 247.8 ± 28.0 versus 216.6 ± 25.3, p < 0.01), and than other hospital patients with increased CRP (mean CRVE: 247.8 ± 28.0 versus 216.4 ± 25.9, p < 0.01). Conclusions: Individuals with an autoimmune rheumatic disease have wider retinal venules than other hospital patients. This increase in calibre may be due to the underlying inflammatory activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]