Associations between depression and anxiety symptoms and retinal vessel caliber in adolescents and young adults.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Previous longitudinal studies suggest that depression and anxiety are associated with risk for cardiovascular disease. The aim of the present study was to test whether an association between depression and anxiety symptoms and retinal vessel caliber, an indicator of subclinical cardiovascular risk, is apparent as early as adolescence and young adulthood.

Methods

Participants were 865 adolescents and young adults who participated in the Brisbane Longitudinal Twin Study and the Twin Eye Study in Tasmania. Participants completed an assessment of depression/anxiety symptoms (the Somatic and Psychological Health Report) when they were 16.5 years old (mean age), and they underwent retinal imaging, on average, 2.5 years later (range, 2 years before to 7 years after the de

SUBMITTER: Meier MH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4290848 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Nov-Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature