Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Thickness and Cerebrospinal Fluid Aβ/Tau

retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness changing has been reported in Alzheimer's Disease (AD) patients at an early stage, and has been demonstrated as a potential biomarker able to predict cognitive deterioration (Hinton DR et al., N Engl J Med 1986; London A et al. Nat Rev Neurol 2013; Chang LY et al., Alzheimers Dement 2014). However, whether RNFL thickness is correlated with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) features of AD pathogenesis (e.g., Aβ and Tau) remains unclear. The investigators thus conducted this observational cohort study to test the correlation between RNFL thickness changing and CSF, to further validate RNFL as a potential AD biomarker.

Inclusion criteria

• 50 years old or older;
• five years or more of education and scores of MMSE ≥ 24 points;
• Chinese as their first language;
• Having spinal anesthesia.

Exclusion criteria

• prior diagnoses of neurologic diseases, e.g., dementia, Parkinson's diseases, multiple sclerosis or stroke according to DSM-IV;
• history of mental disorders (e.g., major depressive disorder and schizophrenia) diagnosed according to DSM-IV;
• known diseases contributing to the retina pathologies, e.g., diabetes, glaucoma or increased intraocular pressure (more than 22 mmHg), cataract, and macular degeneration and hypermyopia;
• unwillingness to comply with the cognitive assessments;
• ungradable images of OCT.