Evidence of retinal arteriolar narrowing in patients with autosomal-dominant polycystic kidney disease
Maria Pietrzak-Nowacka
Orcid profile, Renata Lejkowska
Orcid profile, Miłosz Piotr Kawa
Orcid profile, Zofia Ulańczyk
Orcid profile, Krzysztof Safranow
Orcid profile, Barbara Nowacka
Orcid profile, Karolina Podborączyńska-Jodko
Orcid profile, Wojciech Lubiński
Orcid profile, Kazimierz Ciechanowski
Orcid profile, Bogusław Machaliński
Orcid profile and Anna Machalińska
Orcid profile 
Article Category: Original Study
Published Online: Mar 09, 2022
Page range: 82 - 90
Received: Mar 03, 2021
Accepted: Nov 17, 2021
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ahem-2022-0001
Keywords
© 2022 Maria Pietrzak-Nowacka et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Introduction
The aim of this study was to examine retinal vessels in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) patients with normal kidney function and without diabetes mellitus.
Materials and Methods
We enrolled 39 adult individuals with ADPKD and 45 gender- and age-matched individuals as controls. A full ophthalmologic examination, including retinal vessel caliber and reactions to flicker stimulation analysis and grading of hypertensive retinopathy according to the Keith-Wagener classification, was performed.
Results
Multivariable analysis of ADPKD patients and controls, adjusted for age, gender, estimated glomerular filtration rate (e-GFR) and the presence of hypertension, revealed that ADPKD was an independent factor associated with lower arteriovenous ratio (AVR) values (by 0.069 on average, β = −0.50, p < 0.0001). The severity of hypertensive retinopathy according to the Keith-Wagener classification appeared to be more advanced in the ADPKD group than in the controls, despite the lack of vascular abnormalities, such as retinal hemorrhages, exudates, cotton wool spots or papilledema, as well as microaneurysms, which are very characteristic signs of ADPKD in other vascular beds.
Conclusions
Lower AVR values could be a specific pathophysiological ocular manifestation of systemic vasculopathy in the course of ADPKD.