| Presentation preference | Oral presentation |
| Title | Ocular Senescence Markers in HIV - Comparative study |
| Accept poster if oral is not possible ? | Yes |
| Purpose | HIV is associated with accelerated aging and ocular complications. This study aimed to investigate ocular senescence markers in people with HIV and compared them with age-matched healthy controls and age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) patients |
| Methods | Comparative study evaluated 100 participants categorised into 3 groups: Group A: HIV-positive individuals(n=40); on ART(n=35) and ART-naïve(n=5). Group B: Age-matched healthy controls(n=30). Group C: Individuals >60 years with signs of ARMD(n=30). All participants underwent comprehensive ophthalmic examination, specular microscopy, Pentacam HR and optical coherence tomography angiography(OCTA). Right eye was analyzed unless contraindicated. Statistical analysis included non-parametric tests and Kruskal-Wallis for group comparisons |
| Results | Corneal endothelial cell count and density were significantly lower in the HIV group compared to ARMD(p = 0.02 and p = 0.01) but no significant difference between HIV and normal controls. HIV group had significantly lower corneal densitometry values compared to normal(p < 0.001). No significant difference was found between normal and ARMD. Retinal vessel area density, fractal dimension and skeleton density showed significant differences between HIV and ARMD groups(p < 0.05). OCTA revealed significantly lower vessel and perfusion density(p=0.03) in the HIV group compared to normal controls, particularly in inferior and nasal quadrants. Changes were more pronounced in HIV with longer disease |
| Conclusion | This study identifies vessel density, perfusion density and corneal endothelial cell density and function as markers of early ocular ageing in HIV. These findings highlight the need for regular ocular monitoring in HIV patients to detect early signs of ocular aging |
| Conflict of interest | No |
| Details of conflicting interests | Nil |
1
| Last name | SRIDHARAN |
| Initials of first name(s) | S |
| Department | Medical Research Foundation, Sankara Nethralaya |
| City | Chennai |
| Country | India |
2
| Last name | Nagarajan |
| Initials of first name(s) | R |
| Department | Medical and Vision Research Foundation, Sankara Nethralaya |
| City | Chennai |
| Country | India |
3
| Last name | Raman |
| Initials of first name(s) | R |
| Department | Medical and Vision Research Foundation, Sankara Nethralaya |
| City | Chennai |
| Country | India |
4
| Last name | Chatterjee |
| Initials of first name(s) | N |
| Department | Vision Research Foundation, Sankara Nethralaya |
| City | Chennai |
| Country | India |
