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INTRODUCTION: Our main objective was to investigate whether retinal neurodegeneration, estimated from lower thickness of inner retinal layers, was associated with incident all-cause dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD). METHODS: We performed an individual participant data meta-analysis using unpublished data from four prospective cohort studies with a total of 69,955 participants (n = 1087 cases of incident all-cause dementia; n = 520 cases incident AD; follow-up time median [interquartile range] 11.3 [8.8-11.5] years). RESULTS: General baseline characteristics of the study population were mean (standard deviation) age, 58.1 (8.8) years; 47% women. After adjustment, lower baseline macular retinal nerve fiber layer thickness was significantly associated with a 10% and 11% higher incidence of all-cause dementia and AD, respectively. Lower baseline macular ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer thickness was not significantly associated with these outcomes. DISCUSSION: These findings suggest that retinal neurodegeneration precedes the onset of clinical dementia. Retinal imaging tools may be informative biomarkers for the study of the early pathophysiology of dementia.

Original publication

DOI

10.1002/alz.13167

Type

Journal article

Journal

Alzheimers Dement

Publication Date

01/2024

Volume

20

Pages

211 - 220

Keywords

Alzheimer's disease, E3 consortium, OCT, The Alienor Study, The Maastricht Study, The Tromsø Study, The UK Biobank, UK Biobank Eye & Vision Consortium, dementia, early-onset dementia cohort, epidemiology, frontotemporal dementia, optical coherence tomography, retinal imaging, retinal neurodegeneration, vascular dementia, Humans, Female, Middle Aged, Male, Prospective Studies, Tomography, Optical Coherence, Retina, Alzheimer Disease, Data Analysis