Jin Qifang, Lei Yiming, Wang Ruoxin, Wu Huiying, Ji Kaibao, Ling Ling
Department of Ophthalmology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, China.
Department of School of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Nanchang University, Nanchang, China.
Front Aging Neurosci. 2021 Jun 29;13:683824. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2021.683824. eCollection 2021.
The aim of this meta-analysis was to investigate retinal microvascular features in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Web of Science databases were systematically searched for published articles comparing retinal microvascular characteristics in subjects with AD and controls. The mean difference (MD) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to assess continuous variables. Review Manager Version (RevMan) 5.30, was employed to analyze the data. Nine studies were included in the meta-analysis. The analysis revealed that the macular whole enface superficial and deep vessel density (VD) values measured by OCTA were significantly lower in patients with AD than in controls (MD = -1.10, < 0.0001; MD = -1.61, = 0.0001, respectively). The value measured by OCTA for parafoveal superficial VD in patients with AD was also remarkably lower than that in the control group (MD = -1.42, = 0.001), whereas there was no significant difference in the value for parafoveal deep VD (MD = -3.67, = 0.19), compared to the controls. In addition, the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) was larger in patients with AD than in the control group (MD = 0.08, = 0.07), although it did not reach statistical significance. The present meta-analysis indicated that the macular whole enface and parafoveal vessel densities were reduced in patients with AD. Moreover, our pooled data revealed that FAZ is larger in patients with AD. Consequently, OCTA may be utilized as a diagnostic tool to identify and monitor patients with AD.
本荟萃分析的目的是使用光学相干断层扫描血管造影（OCTA）研究阿尔茨海默病（AD）患者的视网膜微血管特征。系统检索了PubMed、Cochrane图书馆、Embase和Web of Science数据库中比较AD患者和对照组视网膜微血管特征的已发表文章。采用95%置信区间（CI）的平均差（MD）来评估连续变量。使用Review Manager版本（RevMan）5.30对数据进行分析。荟萃分析纳入了9项研究。分析显示，AD患者经OCTA测量的黄斑全层表面和深层血管密度（VD）值显著低于对照组（MD = -1.10，< 0.0001；MD = -1.61，= 0.0001）。AD患者经OCTA测量的黄斑旁表面VD值也显著低于对照组（MD = -1.42，= 0.001），而与对照组相比，黄斑旁深层VD值无显著差异（MD = -3.67，= 0.19）。此外，AD患者的中心凹无血管区（FAZ）比对照组大（MD = 0.08，= 0.07），尽管未达到统计学显著性。本荟萃分析表明，AD患者的黄斑全层和黄斑旁血管密度降低。此外，我们的汇总数据显示，AD患者的FAZ更大。因此，OCTA可作为一种诊断工具，用于识别和监测AD患者。
