Bidirectional association between the risk of comorbidities and the diagnosis of retinal vein occlusion in an elderly population: A nationwide population-based study

• The incidence of retinal vein occlusion reached peaking at 70 years of age.
• We assessed bidirectional association risk of comorbidities in patients with RVO aged over 70 years.
• We found that the high comorbidity burden of elderly patients even before and after the diagnosis of retinal vein occlusion.

BackgroundRetinal vein occlusion (RVO) is the second most common retinal vascular disease, with peak incidence at 70 years of age. However, the bidirectional association between the risk of comorbidities and the diagnosis of RVO in this population is uncertain.MethodsA population-based cohort of 1,784,960 patients 70 years of age and older retrieved from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database between 2000 and 2010. Risks of comorbidities were assessed 5 years before and after the diagnosis of RVO.ResultsIn our study, 3393 subjects had central RVO (CRVO) and 6688 subjects had branch RVO (BRVO). Before the diagnosis of RVO, patients showed increased risks for the following comorbidities: hypertension (odds ratio [OR] = 1.83, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.74–1.93), dyslipidemia (OR = 1.29, [1.23–1.35]), DM (OR = 1.29, [1.23–1.35]), liver disease (OR = 1.22, [1.16–1.29]), renal disease (OR = 1.30, [1.23–1.37]), and cerebrovascular disease (OR = 1.16, [1.11–1.21]). After the diagnosis of RVO, patients were at greater risk of developing DM (adjusted hazard ratio [AHR] = 1.12, [1.06–1.19]), PAD (AHR = 1.17, [1.08–1.27]), and MACE (AHR = 1.35, [1.25–1.46]); however, the risk of all-cause mortality was unchanged. Elderly patients with CRVO had a significantly higher risk of all-cause mortality (AHR = 1.09, [1.02–1.17]), whereas patients with BRVO showed no significant differences in mortality.ConclusionThis study suggests bidirectional association between the risk of comorbidities and the diagnosis of RVO in an elderly population.