Using retinal images of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging to elucidate the causal mechanisms linking cardiometabolic risk factors with microvascular health and to predict cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases
Description: More than two hundred thousand people suffer from myocardial infarction or stroke every year in Canada. This number continues to grow despite drug developments to treat diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and obesity. Vascular diseases that affect arteries in the heart and brain are, in fact, the end-stage of a progressive vessel alteration that begins by silently affecting the very small vessels of the body. Thus, a better understanding of the causal mechanisms linking cardiometabolic risk factors, including smoking, small vessel alteration, and artery diseases would provide earlier and improved risk prediction for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events. Retinal images can be used to assess an individual's overall small vessel condition for three reasons: (1) retinal vessel images are an easily-observable part of an individual's small vessel health using ocular fundus photographs; (2) retinal vessel architecture is affected by diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, obesity, and smoking; and (3) retinal vessel changes can predict the occurrence of heart attack and stroke. By combining high-throughput genetic methods with artificial intelligence algorithms to automate the analysis of retinal images from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging and the UK Biobank, we will identify genes that determine retinal vessel architecture. Those findings will then be used as inputs to estimate the causal effects of cardiometabolic risk factors on the retinal vessel changes. We will finally test whether retinal images can be used to improve the prediction of myocardial infarction and stroke. By providing a better understanding of the causal and modifiable risk factors involved in small vessel health, our project will guide prevention strategies, and help properly direct clinical trials. This study will also provide targets for effective lifestyle and pharmacological interventions for small vessel changes, and in fine, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.
Amount: CA$77,300
Funding type: research
Funder scheme: Catalyst Grant: Analysis of Canadian Longitudinal Study in Aging (CLSA) Data
Start date: 2020-03-01
End date: 2021-02-28
Investigator: Marie Pigeyre
Institution: McMaster University
Topic: Retinal Imaging and Analysis
Subfield: Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Funded outputs count: 0
Funder award ID: 170312_1
OpenAlex ID: G3532616541