BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The examination of the fundus allows to evaluate retinal the microcirculation in vivo. We assess the reliability and validity of ALTAIR software, and to evaluate its clinical relevance by the association of thickness, area and length of the retinal vessels with other measures of vascular structure and function, target organ damage and cardiovascular risk. METHODS Cross-sectional study involving a total of 250 subjects aged 62 ± 9 years, 51 % males. In a random subsample of 60 subjects (118 retinographies), we estimated the intraobserver, interobserver and interdevice intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) of the measurements of retinal vascular thickness, area and length in 3 concentric circles. Concurrent validity was assessed with all 250 subjects (495 retinographies), analysing the relationship to age, blood pressure, target organ damage, vascular structure and function, and cardiovascular risk. RESULTS Of the sample, 69 % were diagnosed with hypertension and 17 % with diabetes. Intraobserver ICC ranged from 0.640 for venous length to 0.906 for arterial area. Interobserver ICC ranged from 0.809 for arterial length to 0.916 for venous area, and interdevice ICC for arteriovenous ratio (AVR) was 0.887, thickness of arteries 0.590 and vein thickness 0.677. We found a moderate correlation between retinal vascular parameters and vascular structure and function, and target organ damage. In multiple linear regression analysis, the association with blood pressure, albumin/creatinine ratio, carotid intima-media thickness and cardiovascular risk is maintained. CONCLUSION The ALTAIR tool has been useful for analysing the thickness, area and length of retinal vessels, with adequate reliability and a concomitant association of retinal vessel measurements with other cardiovascular parameters and cardiovascular risk. Therefore, in addition to thickness, the area and length of retinal vessels could also play a role in the prediction of cardiovascular risk.

中文翻译：

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自动图像分析仪评估视网膜血管口径（ALTAIR）。一种评估视网膜血管厚度，面积和长度的新工具。

背景和目的眼底检查可以评估视网膜的体内微循环。我们评估了ALTAIR软件的可靠性和有效性，并通过将视网膜血管的厚度，面积和长度与其他血管结构和功能，目标器官损伤和心血管风险的测量值之间的关联性来评估其临床相关性。方法横断面研究涉及250位年龄为62±9岁的受试者，其中51％为男性。在60个受试者的随机子样本（118个视网膜成像）中，我们估计了3个同心圆中视网膜血管厚度，面积和长度的测量值的观察者内，观察者间和装置间类内相关系数（ICC）。评估了所有250名受试者（495例视网膜成像）的并发有效性，分析了其与年龄，血压，靶器官损害，血管结构和功能以及心血管疾病的风险。结果在样本中，有69％被诊断出患有高血压，而17％被诊断出患有糖尿病。观察者内ICC范围从静脉长度的0.640到动脉区域的0.906。观察者间ICC范围从动脉长度的0.809到静脉面积的0.916，而装置间ICC的动静脉比率（AVR）为0.887，动脉厚度为0.590，静脉厚度为0.677。我们发现视网膜血管参数与血管结构和功能以及靶器官损伤之间存在中等相关性。在多元线性回归分析中，维持了与血压，白蛋白/肌酐比，颈动脉内膜中层厚度和心血管风险的关联。结论ALTAIR工具可用于分析厚度，视网膜血管的面积和长度，具有足够的可靠性，并伴随着视网膜血管测量值与其他心血管参数和心血管风险的关联。因此，除了厚度之外，视网膜血管的面积和长度也可能在心血管风险的预测中起作用。