Personality and total health through life project eye substudy: Methodology and baseline retinal features

Purpose: to describe the methodology and present the retinal grading findings of an older sample of australians with well-defined indices of neurocognitive function in the Personality and total Health (PatH) through life project. Design: a cross-sectional study. Methods: three hundred twenty-six individuals from the PatH through life project were invited to participate. Participants completed a general questionnaire and 2-field, 45-degree nonmydriatic color digital retinal photography. Photographs were graded for retinal pathology according to established protocols. Results: two hundred fifty-four (77.9%) subjects, aged 72 to 78 years, agreed to participate in the eye substudy. gradable images of at least 1 eye were acquired in 211 of 254 subjects (83.1%). retinal photographic screening identified 1 or more signs of pathology in 130 of the 174 subjects (74.7%) with gradable images of both eyes. a total of 45 participants (17.7%) had self-reported diabetes and diabetic retinopathy was observed in 22 (48.9%) of these participants. Conclusions: this well-defined sample of older australians provides a unique opportunity to interrogate associations between retinal findings, including retinal vascular geometric parameters, and indices of neurocognitive function.