The Risk of Retinal Vein Occlusion in Young Patients with Mental Disorders: A Nationwide Cohort Study

We investigated the association between mental disorders and the incidence rate of retinal vein occlusion (RVO) in young Korean adults. This nationwide cohort study included subjects aged 20–40 years who underwent the Korean National Health Examination between 2009 and 2012. The diagnoses of RVO and mental disorders were based on the International Classification of Diseases Tenth Revision codes. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to evaluate the objective. In total, 6,891,399 subjects were included at baseline and 6,597,803 subjects (mean age, 30.86 ± 4.99) were finally analyzed for a mean follow-up duration of 7.36 ± 1.13 years, with the mental disorders group followed for 7.27 ± 1.15 years and the non-diagnosed group for 7.37 ± 1.12 years. Among a total of 10,145 subjects diagnosed with RVO, 1304 had been diagnosed with mental disorders, while 8841 had not. Cumulative incidence of RVO demonstrated a substantially higher incidence probability in subjects with mental disorders (log-rank p < 0.0001). Mental disorders were associated with an increased incidence rate of RVO (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.268; 95% confidence interval; [CI]: 1.196–1.344). In the subgroup analysis, subjects with depression, sleep disorder, and anxiety disorder exhibited an increased risk of incidence of RVO in all regression models (all p < 0.001). In conclusion, mental disorders and the incidence rate of RVO were significantly positively correlated in a Korean nationwide population-based cohort study. These findings suggest that mental disorders may also be associated with the pathophysiology of RVO in young adults.