AIM: To examine differences in etiology, risk factors, gender, and acute-phase manifestations of retinal artery occlusion(RAO)patients in different age groups, highlighting age-related heterogeneity.

METHODS:This retrospective comparative cohort study enrolled patients with RAO. Patients were divided into <50 y group and ≥50 y group. Etiological classification was based on modified TOAST criteria. Comparisons assessed the prevalence of risk factors, etiological distribution, sex ratio, and, in cases of acute central retinal artery occlusion(CRAO), fundus characteristics and visual outcomes.

RESULTS:This study included a total of 145 RAO patients,which were divided into two groups based on age: <50 y group(15 females and 13 males)with the mean age of 36.64±9.72 y, and ≥50 y group(38 females and 79 males)with the mean age of 63.50±9.54 y. Hypertension(46.4% vs 85.5%)and diabetes(3.6% vs 27.4%)were less prevalent in <50 y group(both P<0.001). The <50 y group was characterized predominantly by stroke of other determined etiology(SOE, 35.7% vs 2.6%, P<0.001), whereas the ≥50 y group was dominated by small artery occlusion(SAO, 35.9%)and large artery atherosclerosis(LAA, 31.6%), the incidence rates were significantly higher in the ≥50 y group than in the <50 y group(both P<0.001). Females were more frequently represented in <50 y group(53.6% vs 32.5%, P=0.039). Multivariable analysis demonstrated that LAA was independently linked to older age and SOE to younger age. Boxcarring occurred exclusively in ≥50 y patients\〖39.5%(17/43)vs 0, P=0.011\〗.

CONCLUSION:The RAO patients<50 y predominantly present with non-atherosclerotic causes and a higher proportion of females, whereas patients≥50 y are mainly affected by atherosclerosis driven etiologies and show signs of reduced vascular compensatory capacity. These findings indicate that age-related differences in RAO should be taken into account when determining etiologic evaluation and management strategies.

Objective:To compare the effects of staged percutaneous coronary intervention(PCI)after emergency PCI and emergency culprit-only PCI on clinical outcomes of elderly patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction(STEMI)and multivessel disease.Methods:A retrospective analysis was performed on 389 elderly patients with STEMI and multivessel lesions, aged ≥70 years and within 12 h of onset, admitted to the Clinical College of Thoracic Medicine, Tianjin Medical University, between January 2014 and September 2019.According to different revascularization strategies, enrolled patients were divided into the culprit-only PCI group(79.18%, 308)and the staged PCI group(20.82%, 81). Kaplan-Meier analysis and the Cox proportional hazards regression model were used to compare the incidences of major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events(MACCE), all-cause death, cardiac death, recurrent myocardial infarction, stroke and ischemia-driven revascularization between the two groups and to evaluate the effects of different revascularization strategies on MACCE and all-cause death.Then subgroup analysis was performed.Results:During a 56-month follow-up, 131 patients developed MACCE and 96 patients died.Compared with the culprit-only PCI group, the staged PCI group had a lower risk of MACCE( HR: 0.404, 95% CI: 0.227-0.716, P=0.002), all-cause death( HR: 0.354, 95% CI: 0.171-0.730, P=0.005), cardiac death( HR: 0.363, 95% CI: 0.157-0.838, P=0.018), and recurrent myocardial infarction( HR: 0.229, 95% CI: 0.055-0.953, P=0.043). There was no significant difference in the incidence of stroke or ischemia-driven revascularization between the two groups( P>0.05). The reduced risk with staged PCI for MACCE and for all-cause mortality persisted in all subgroups.Multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression revealed that, after adjusting for confounding factors, staged PCI was an independent protective factor for MACCE( HR: 0.44, 95% CI: 0.239-0.815, P=0.009)and for all-cause death( HR: 0.390, 95% CI: 0.90, P=0.020). Conclusion:Compared with culprit-only PCI, staged PCI can significantly improve the long-term prognosis of elderly patients ≥70 years with STEMI and multivessel disease within 12 h of onset.