Retinal Vascular Parameters and Their Determinants in Healthy Turkish Children Aged 2-10 Years: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Authors

Ata Baytaroğlu, Şerife Nur Çiftci, Mesut Saka, Suzan Doğruya, Hatice Daldal

Published in

Ophthalmic epidemiology. Pages 1-9. Oct 20, 2026. Epub Oct 20, 2026.

Abstract

To provide normative values for retinal vascular parameters and their determinants in healthy Turkish children aged 2 to 10 years.
In this cross-sectional study, 513 healthy children (247 girls, 266 boys) attending outpatient clinics for routine or well-child visits were enrolled. The left eye was studied by protocol. After mydriasis, fundus photographs were taken with a Canon CX-1 camera, and CRAE, CRVE, and the arteriole-to-vein ratio from equivalents (AVRe) were derived by the Knudtson-Parr-Hubbard formulas within the RMHAS module and reported in pixels. Multivariable regression examined AVRe, and separately CRAE and CRVE, against age, sex, body mass index (BMI), mean arterial pressure (MAP), and intraocular pressure (IOP), with axial length as a covariate in the caliber models.
The mean age was 5.82 ± 2.38 years. AVRe was 0.677, CRAE 15.70 px, and CRVE 23.24 px. AVRe decreased with age (trend β = -0.0039 per year, p < 0.001). Lower AVRe was independently associated with higher MAP (β = -0.0009, p = 0.002) and higher IOP (β = 0.0017, p = 0.013). MAP was associated with narrower CRAE (p < 0.001) but not CRVE, and IOP with wider CRAE (p = 0.008), indicating that both associations acted through the arteriolar compartment. The age-group × MAP and age-group × IOP interactions were not significant. Sex and BMI showed no association.
This study provides age-specific normative retinal vascular values for Turkish children. The age-related decline of AVRe and its inverse association with blood pressure, driven by arteriolar narrowing, support retinal vessel measurement as a marker of microvascular health in young children.

PMID:
42900694
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 21 Oct 2026.

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