Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41958634›Full record

ArticleImaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.)

Retinal nerve fibre layer thickness reflects characteristics of brain grey and white matter.

Nazife Ayyıldız, Karsten Mueller, Samyogita Hardikar, Frauke Beyer, Cornelia Enzenbach, Ronny Baber, Kerstin Wirkner, Silke Zachariae, Johanna Girbardt, Jordan D Hassett and 6 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.). The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

16 authors.

Nazife AyyıldızDepartment of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4541-3303
Karsten MuellerDepartment of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9613-0552
Samyogita HardikarDepartment of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4380-5055
Frauke BeyerDepartment of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5401-852X
Cornelia EnzenbachInstitute for Medical Informatics, Statistics and Epidemiology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany.
Ronny BaberLeipzig Research Centre for Civilization Diseases (LIFE), Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0004-2539-7849
Kerstin WirknerLeipzig Research Centre for Civilization Diseases (LIFE), Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0000-1301-7125
Silke ZachariaeInstitute for Medical Informatics, Statistics and Epidemiology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1614-8790
Johanna GirbardtDepartment of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9564-1358
Jordan D HassettDepartment of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4941-6846
Alfred AnwanderDepartment of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4861-4808
Tobias ElzeSchepens Eye Research Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2032-0496
Mengyu WangSchepens Eye Research Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.
A Veronica WitteDepartment of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9054-6688
Franziska G RauscherInstitute for Medical Informatics, Statistics and Epidemiology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0183-0340
Arno VillringerDepartment of Neurology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2604-2404

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The retina is an optically accessible part of the central nervous system. Using high-resolution optical coherence tomography, we explored the relationship between retinal thickness and structural features of the brain obtained with magnetic resonance imaging. We hypothesized that there are associations between circumpapillary (i.e., around optic disc) retinal nerve fibre layer thickness and structural features of (i) brain areas and pathways related to visual information processing and (ii) more widespread brain areas affected by the consequences of cardiovascular risk factors and/or age-related neurodegeneration. In a population-based sample of over 500 subjects, in support of the first hypothesis, we showed associations of circumpapillary retinal nerve fibre layer thickness with visual cortex grey matter density and with optic radiation fractional anisotropy. These correlations were stronger for the right eye, possibly reflecting right ocular dominancy. Regarding the second hypothesis, while we confirmed the broad impact of cardiovascular risk factors such as body mass index, diabetes, and hypertension on brain structure, we did not find (adequate) significant partial correlations between circumpapillary retinal nerve fibre layer thickness and cardiovascular risk factors. Consequently, we were unable to confirm an association between circumpapillary retinal nerve fibre layer thickness and the impact of cardiovascular risk factors on brain structure especially on grey matter rather than white matter. However, even when the effects of cardiovascular risk factors were accounted for statistically, circumpapillary retinal nerve fibre layer thickness (particularly on the right side) was associated with fractional anisotropy of limbic system tracts, that is, the fornix and stria terminalis including hippocampus and amygdala, areas which are commonly affected by Alzheimer's disease. To further explore the structural associations between eye and brain, in terms of a possible common underlying pathology related to cardiovascular risk factors and progressive neurodegenerative diseases on the central nervous system, longitudinal and interventional studies are necessary.

Indexed as

brain grey mattercardiovascular risk factorscircumpapillary retinal nerve fibre layer thicknessmagnetic resonance imagingoptical coherence tomographywhite matter

Identifiers

PMID41958634
PMCPMC13058853

What Socratic holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.