OBJECTIVE: Investigating retinal thickness may complement existing biological markers for dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases. Although retinal thinning is predictive for cognitive decline, it remains to be investigated if and how this feature aligns with neurodegeneration elsewhere in the brain, specifically in early disease stages.

METHODS: Using optical coherence tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, we examined retinal thickness as well as hippocampal structure in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment and healthy controls.

RESULTS: The groups did not differ in hippocampal and retinal thickness measures. However, we detected a correlation of peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness and hippocampal thickness in healthy people but not in cognitively impaired patients. The ratio of hippocampus to retina thickness was significantly smaller in patients with mild cognitive impairment and correlated positively with cognitive performance.

CONCLUSIONS: Different temporal trajectories of neurodegeneration may disrupt transregional brain structure associations in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment.