| The Thursday Edition | September 18, 2008 |
When It Comes to Heart Health—Your Eyes Don’t Lie!
Doctors have long recognized the value of examining your eyes for clues about your health. And new research shows your eyes may show whether you have heart disease—even before you begin to experience other symptoms!
Retinopathy refers to a disease of the eye retina. It can be caused by high blood pressure, diabetes and other diseases.
According to a Reuter’s report, researchers from the University of Sydney and the University of Melbourne in Australia and the National University of Singapore found that people with retinopathy were nearly twice as likely to die of heart disease over the next 12 years as those without the disease.
They studied retina photographs of 3,000 people—the majority of whom had diabetes. Medical professionals often take these photos to assess any eye damage the disease may cause.
“Over 12 years, 353 participants (11.9 percent) had incident coronary heart disease-related deaths,” the researchers reported in the journal Heart. Researchers found that retinopathy raised the risk of heart disease as much as diabetes did.
The researchers said changes in their eye retina could be an early warning of artery damage. They said people should take steps to lower cholesterol and blood pressure to help reduce their heart health risks.
Posted in Heart Health, Vision.
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