The relationship between retinal vascular occlusions and cognitive dementia in a large cross-sectional cohort.

ABSTRACT Purpose : To examine the association between cognitive dementia and retinal vascular occlusions. Design : A retrospective, cross-sectional study. Methods : Setting: Single institution Study population: We reviewed the electronic medical records of 37,208 individuals older than 65 years of age who were evaluated by an ophthalmologist or an optometrist and who also had a medical visit at our institution over a 6-year period. Individuals with and without retinal vascular occlusions were identified through ICD-10 diagnosis codes. Main outcome: We analyzed the association between dementia and retinal vascular occlusions after adjusting for covariates which included age, sex, stroke, diabetes mellitus and hypertension using multiple logistic regression analyses. Results : Compared to subjects without, those with retinal vascular occlusions had a higher prevalence of dementia (6.7% vs 9.3%, p Conclusions : Individuals with retinal vascular occlusions have a higher prevalence of dementia. However, this association is secondary to shared underlying risk factors in this population such as older age and stroke.