Pseudoexfoliation may be a risk factor for peripheral vascular disease

Cataract and pseudoexfoliation (PEX) patients with a low ankle brachial index (ABI) are at higher risk of peripheral vascular disease (PVD), according to a study in Eye.

Dr M.R. Praveen et al., Iladevi Cataract and IOL Research Center, Ahmedabad, India, conducted an observational age-matched case-control study of 160 age-related cataract patients who were no less than 60 years old. Forty PEX patients with cataracts were compared with a control group of 120 cataract patients without PEX. The subjects medical history such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus, cerebrovascular stroke and ischaemic heart disease were taken into consideration.

The risk of PVD among the patients was determined through the measurement of ABI by colour Doppler imaging of the brachia and dorsalis pedis artery. From prio knowledge that a low ABI indicates an increased risk of PVD each patient's lowest mean ABI was recorded as the main outcome measure.

The lowest ABI in the controls was 0.98±0.03 and 0.88±0.02 in the PEX group. It was found that there was a strong correlation between presence of PEX and ABI, with the odds of low ABI being 150 times more than the control group.