{"title":"Association between the retinal age gap and systemic diseases in the Japanese population: the Nagahama study.","authors":"Takuro Kamei, Masahiro Miyake, Keina Sado, Kazuya Morino, Yuki Mori, Yasuharu Tabara, Fumihiko Matsuda, Hiroshi Tamura, Akitaka Tsujikawa","doi":"10.1007/s10384-025-01205-3","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>To investigate the retinal age gap, defined as the difference between deep learning-predicted retinal age and chronological age, as a potential biomarker of systemic health in the Japanese population.</p><p><strong>Study design: </strong>Prospective cohort study.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Data from the Nagahama Study, a large-scale Japanese cohort study, were used. Participants were divided into fine-tuning (n=2,261) and analysis (n=6,070) cohorts based on their visit status across the two periods. The fine-tuning cohort only included individuals without a history of systemic or cardiovascular diseases. A deep learning model, originally released in the Japan Ocular Imaging Registry, was fine-tuned using a fine-tuning cohort to predict retinal age from images. This refined model was then applied to the analysis cohort to calculate retinal age gaps. We conducted cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses to examine the association of these gaps with systemic and cardiovascular diseases.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The retinal age-prediction model achieved a mean absolute error of 3.00-3.42 years. Cross-sectional analysis revealed significant associations between the retinal age gap and a history of diabetes (β = 1.08, p < 0.001) and hyperlipidemia (β = -0.67, p < 0.001). Longitudinal analysis showed no significant association between the baseline retinal age gap and disease onset. However, onset of hypertension (β = 0.35, p = 0.049) and hyperlipidemia (β = 0.34, p = 0.035) showed marginal associations with an increase in retinal age gap over time.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The retinal age gap is a promising biomarker for systemic health, particularly in relation to diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia.</p>","PeriodicalId":14563,"journal":{"name":"Japanese Journal of Ophthalmology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Japanese Journal of Ophthalmology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10384-025-01205-3","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"OPHTHALMOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Purpose: To investigate the retinal age gap, defined as the difference between deep learning-predicted retinal age and chronological age, as a potential biomarker of systemic health in the Japanese population.
Study design: Prospective cohort study.
Methods: Data from the Nagahama Study, a large-scale Japanese cohort study, were used. Participants were divided into fine-tuning (n=2,261) and analysis (n=6,070) cohorts based on their visit status across the two periods. The fine-tuning cohort only included individuals without a history of systemic or cardiovascular diseases. A deep learning model, originally released in the Japan Ocular Imaging Registry, was fine-tuned using a fine-tuning cohort to predict retinal age from images. This refined model was then applied to the analysis cohort to calculate retinal age gaps. We conducted cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses to examine the association of these gaps with systemic and cardiovascular diseases.
Results: The retinal age-prediction model achieved a mean absolute error of 3.00-3.42 years. Cross-sectional analysis revealed significant associations between the retinal age gap and a history of diabetes (β = 1.08, p < 0.001) and hyperlipidemia (β = -0.67, p < 0.001). Longitudinal analysis showed no significant association between the baseline retinal age gap and disease onset. However, onset of hypertension (β = 0.35, p = 0.049) and hyperlipidemia (β = 0.34, p = 0.035) showed marginal associations with an increase in retinal age gap over time.
Conclusion: The retinal age gap is a promising biomarker for systemic health, particularly in relation to diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia.
期刊介绍:
The Japanese Journal of Ophthalmology (JJO) was inaugurated in 1957 as a quarterly journal published in English by the Ophthalmology Department of the University of Tokyo, with the aim of disseminating the achievements of Japanese ophthalmologists worldwide. JJO remains the only Japanese ophthalmology journal published in English. In 1997, the Japanese Ophthalmological Society assumed the responsibility for publishing the Japanese Journal of Ophthalmology as its official English-language publication.
Currently the journal is published bimonthly and accepts papers from authors worldwide. JJO has become an international interdisciplinary forum for the publication of basic science and clinical research papers.