{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,2]],"date-time":"2026-10-02T21:04:13Z","timestamp":1790975053278,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,10]],"date-time":"2026-09-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788998400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100012618","name":"National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["BRC-2-RB403-313"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["BRC-2-RB403-313"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100012618","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosdigitalhealth.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLOS Digit Health"],"abstract":"<jats:p>We investigate the association between multimodal retinal imaging parameters with prevalent and incident atrial fibrillation (AF). For this cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis we utilized data from two independent cohorts: AlzEye (retrospective, age\u2009\u2265\u200940 years, 2008\u20132018) and UK Biobank (UKB; prospective, age 40\u201369 years, recruited 2006\u20132010). Retinal sublayer thicknesses and retinovascular indices were extracted from macular optical coherence tomography and color retinal photography, respectively. AF was ascertained via self-report and hospital admissions, association between retinal metrics with prevalent and incident AF were estimated using mixed-effects linear and frailty models. In AlzEye (n\u2009=\u200950,651), prevalent AF (n\u2009=\u20095,375; 11%) was associated with significantly smaller retinal venular calibre (-0.05 \u00b5m, 95% CI: -0.08, -0.03) and thinner macular retinal nerve fibre layer (-0.69 \u00b5m, 95% CI: -0.91, -0.46), ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer (mGCIPL; -1.96 \u00b5m, 95% CI: -2.34, -1.58), inner nuclear layer (-0.57 \u00b5m, 95% CI: -0.75, -0.38), and photoreceptor layer (-0.93 \u00b5m, 95% CI: -1.38, -0.48). Venular fractal dimension was lower (-0.08, 95% CI: -0.11, -0.06), while arteriolar fractal dimension was higher (0.05, 95% CI: 0.02, 0.08) in individuals with AF. Evidence of thinner mGCIPL was replicated in UKB (-1.19 \u00b5m, 95% CI: -1.73, -0.65). In UKB (n\u2009=\u200939,013 baseline without AF), 838 developed AF over a mean of 4.0 years. Adjusting for sociodemographic, clinical and lifestyle factors, each SD decrease in mGCIPL thickness was associated with a significant 27% increased hazard of AF (95% CI: 5%, 54%). Differences in the inner retinal sublayers, corresponding to retinal ganglion cells, are associated with prevalent and incident AF across two large independent cohorts, supporting the potential role of widely-accessible retinal imaging for early detection and better management of AF.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pdig.0001661","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,10]],"date-time":"2026-09-10T17:35:12Z","timestamp":1789061712000},"page":"e0001661","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pdig.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Atrial fibrillation and retinal imaging-based oculomics: A cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis of two large cohorts"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"5","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5238-8295","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Josef","family":"Huemer","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7353-8774","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Kelsey V.","family":"Stuart","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yukun","family":"Zhou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Dominic J.","family":"Williamson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Peter","family":"Woodward-Court","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alastair 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