Cohort profile: OphtalmoLaus, an extension of the CoLaus|PsyCoLaus cohort to investigate the relationships between ocular, cardiovascular, and cognitive parameters

Retinal imaging enables direct, non-invasive visualization of the human microvasculature, providing biomarkers of systemic cardiovascular, metabolic, and cognitive health.. The OphtalmoLaus study is an ophthalmic sub-study nested within the population-based CoLaus|PsyCoLaus cohort, aiming to investigate the relationships between ocular phenotypes and systemic health outcomes.A total of 2472 participants from the CoLaus|PsyCoLaus cohort underwent standardized ophthalmic examinations at the Jules Gonin Ophthalmic Hospital, including visual acuity, intraocular pressure, axial length measurements, and multimodal ophthalmic imaging using Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), OCT angiography (OCT-A), fundus photography, and anterior segment/iris imaging. Additionally, sublingual microcirculation imaging was performed using a handheld CytoCam-IDF microscope in a subgroup. Findings based on clinical examination and imaging findings included glaucoma, macular drusen (19.3%), macular edema (1.5%), subretinal fluid (1.0%), and macular hemorrhage (0.2%), with prevalence calculated relative to the total number of participants. This manuscript provides a detailed overview of the study’s design, participant characteristics, imaging protocols, and clinical phenotyping methods, establishing the OphthalmoLaus dataset as a unique epidemiological resource for investigating links between ocular and systemic health, with potential for genetic, epidemiological, and longitudinal analyses.