Retinal arteriolar changes in patients with hyperlipidemias.

Hyperlipidemia is a known risk factor for atherosclerosis systemically. To determine whether it causes changes in retinal arterioles, a group of 26 patients with hyperlipidemia (serum cholesterol or triglycerides greater than 95th percentile for age) were compared with 22 "normal" patients (comparison group) and 35 patients with contralateral branch retinal vein occlusion to determine the presence or absence of changes in the retinal arterioles. The arterioles of all groups were evaluated in a masked fashion to determine the presence of arteriovenous nicking, "sclerosis," narrowing, and tortuosity. No differences in the retinal arterioles between the patients with hyperlipidemia and the comparison group were found. Patients with branch retinal vein occlusion in the contralateral eye had significantly more arteriovenous nicking and "sclerosis" than the other groups. These data suggest that hyperlipidemia by itself is not a risk factor for the development of retinal arteriolar changes. Thus examining the retinal arterioles would not be helpful in detecting hyperlipidemia.