A possible link between the pseudoexfoliation syndrome and coronary artery disease

Abstract

This is a collaborative case-control study from Ophthalmology and Cardiology departments of a tertiary care hospital, designed to explore the relationship between coronary artery disease (CAD) and pseudoexfoliation syndrome (PEX). In all, 50 patients with CAD proven by coronary angiography, and 50 controls with normal coronary angiographic findings were compared in terms of PEX, other vascular diseases, and retinal vascular findings. chi2-test and Student's t-test were used for statistical analysis. The number of patients with PEX among CAD (+) patients was substantially larger than controls. In all, 28 of 50 CAD (+) patients and only 12 of 50 CAD (-) patients had PEX. PEX was significantly associated with CAD (P=0.001). When all patients were regrouped according to the presence of PEX, patients with PEX did not differ from patients without PEX in terms of age (P=0.360) and sex (P=0.507), but the prevalence of CAD was higher (P=0.001) and fundoscopic findings of vascular diseases were significantly more prominent (P=0.0001) in PEX (+) patients. We demonstrated statistically significant difference in the prevalence of PEX in CAD patients, and also in the prevalence of CAD in PEX (+) individuals. These were striking differences. We should consider the possibility of the presence of PEX in CAD patients; and the predisposition of PEX (+) persons for CAD, which necessitates a fundus examination for findings of systemic vascular diseases.