ArticleBioengineering (Basel, Switzerland)2025
Association Between Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCTA)-Based Retinal Vascular Densities and Empathy in Young Adults.
Article in Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
With the use of Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography (OCTA), the present study is the first study to examine if retinal vascular densities (vessel densities and perfusion densities) could be associated with empathetic levels in young and non-clinical adults.
methodsFifty-one university students aged from 18 to 25 years (26 males and 24 females) were recruited from a university in Hong Kong. OCTA was conducted to assess their retinal vessel density (VD) and perfusion density (PD) in different scan patterns over the macula (1 mm center subfield, 3 × 3 mm scan, 6 × 6 mm scan). Empathy (cognitive, affective, and somatic) was measured by using the Cognitive, Affective, and Somatic Empathy Scales (CASES).
resultsAfter controlling for age, the multiple linear regression results showed that both the VD and PD in the 1 mm center subfield were significantly and negatively associated with the empathy total score, the affective empathy subscore, and the somatic empathy subscore, respectively (
conclusionThe present findings indicate that a lower level of empathy is associated with increased retinal vascular densities in the 1 mm center subfield, specifically involving variations in vascular density (VD) and perfusion density (PD). This suggests the dilation of retinal venules might lead to lower empathy. These results establish a foundation for future studies investigating the underlying mechanism of retinal imaging and empathy in healthy individuals.
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