Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29077770›Full record

ArticlePloS one2017

Cardiovascular risk factors as determinants of retinal and skin microvascular function: The Maastricht Study.

Ben M Sörensen, Alfons J H M Houben, Tos T J M Berendschot, Jan S A G Schouten, Abraham A Kroon, Carla J H van der Kallen, Ronald M A Henry, Annemarie Koster, Pieter C Dagnelie, Nicolaas C Schaper and 2 more

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
10citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
1.7field-weighted citation impact, top 16% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

10 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 23 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Effects of firsthand tobacco smoking on retinal vessel caliber: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Graefe's archive for clinical and experimental ophthalmology = Albrecht von Graefes Archiv fur klinische und experimentelle Ophthalmologie · 2024
    Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Article
  4. Reactions to disclosed biofeedback information on skin DNA damage in individuals after a beach holiday: a mixed methods intervention study.Photochemical & photobiological sciences : Official journal of the European Photochemistry Association and the European Society for Photobiology · 2025
    Article
  5. Review
  6. Skin-specific mechanisms of body fluid regulation in hypertension.Clinical science (London, England : 1979) · 2023
    Article
  7. Observational
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Ben M SörensenCARIM School for Cardiovascular Diseases, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3377-3133
Alfons J H M HoubenCARIM School for Cardiovascular Diseases, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Tos T J M BerendschotUniversity Eye Clinic Maastricht, Maastricht University Medical Center+, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Jan S A G SchoutenUniversity Eye Clinic Maastricht, Maastricht University Medical Center+, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Abraham A KroonCARIM School for Cardiovascular Diseases, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Carla J H van der KallenCARIM School for Cardiovascular Diseases, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Ronald M A HenryCARIM School for Cardiovascular Diseases, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Annemarie KosterCAPHRI Care and Public Health Research Institute, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Pieter C DagnelieCARIM School for Cardiovascular Diseases, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Nicolaas C SchaperCARIM School for Cardiovascular Diseases, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Miranda T SchramCARIM School for Cardiovascular Diseases, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Coen D A StehouwerCARIM School for Cardiovascular Diseases, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
Maastricht University · NL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveMicrovascular dysfunction is an important underlying mechanism of microvascular diseases. Determinants (age, sex, hypertension, dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia, obesity, and smoking) of macrovascular diseases affect large-artery endothelial function. These risk factors also associate with microvascular diseases. We hypothesized that they are also determinants of microvascular (endothelial) function.

methodsIn The Maastricht Study, a type 2 diabetes-enriched population-based cohort study (n = 1991, 51% men, aged 59.7±8.2 years), we determined microvascular function as flicker light-induced retinal arteriolar %-dilation and heat-induced skin %-hyperemia. Multiple linear regression analyses were used to assess the associations of cardiovascular risk factors (age, sex, waist circumference, total-to-high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol ratio, fasting plasma glucose (FPG), 24-h systolic blood pressure, and cigarette smoking) with retinal and skin microvascular function.

resultsIn multivariate analyses, age and FPG were inversely associated with retinal and skin microvascular function (regression coefficients per standard deviation (SD) were -0.11SD (95%CI: -0.15;-0.06) and -0.12SD (-0.17;-0.07) for retinal arteriolar %-dilation and -0.10SD (-0.16;-0.05) and -0.11SD (-0.17;-0.06) for skin %-hyperemia, respectively. Men and current smokers had -0.43SD (-0.58;-0.27) and -0.32SD (-0.49;-0.15) lower skin %-hyperemia, respectively. 24-h systolic blood pressure, waist circumference, and total-to-HDL cholesterol ratio were not statistically significantly associated with these microvascular functions.

conclusionsAssociations between cardiovascular risk factors and retinal and skin microvascular function show a pattern that is partly similar to the associations between cardiovascular risk factors and macrovascular function. Impairment of microvascular function may constitute a pathway through which an adverse cardiovascular risk factor pattern may increase risk of diseases that are partly or wholly of microvascular origin.

Indexed as

AnimalsCardiovascular DiseasesFemaleGuinea PigsHumansMaleRetinal VesselsRisk FactorsSkin

Identifiers

PMID29077770
PMCPMC5659678
OpenAlexW2766062430

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.