Scientists from the University of Edinburgh found that combining information about the pattern of blood vessels in the retina with genetic data can help predict a person’s risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) and a heart attack.
The discovery could lead to a simple screening process where an MI risk could be calculated when a person undergoes a routine eye test.
The research was presented at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics and was conducted by Ana Villaplana-Velasco et al.
In the study, the team used data from the UK Biobank. They calculated a measure named fractal dimension (Df).
They found that lower Df, simplified vessel branching patterns, is related to CAD and hence a heart attack.
The researchers then developed a model that was able to predict heart attack risk prediction by studying participants who had experienced a heart attack event after the collection of their retinal images.
They found that their model was able to better classify participants with low or high heart attack risk when compared with established models that only include demographic data.
The improvement of our model was even higher if they added a score related to the genetic propensity of developing heart attacks.
These findings may also be useful in identifying propensity to other diseases.
Variations in the retinal vascular pattern also reflect the development of other ocular and systemic diseases, such as diabetic retinopathy and stroke.
The researchers believe it is possible that every condition may have a unique retinal variation profile.
In the future, a simple retinal examination may be able to provide enough information to identify people at risk.
The average age for a heart attack is 60, and the researchers found that their model achieved its best predictive performance more than five years before the heart attack event.
So the calculation of an individualized heart attack risk from those over 50 years old would seem to be appropriate
This would enable doctors to suggest behaviors that could reduce risks, such as giving up smoking and maintaining normal cholesterol and blood pressure.
If you care about heart attack, please read studies about how to treat and prevent heart attack in people with diabetes, and COVID-19 is a much bigger risk to the heart than vaccination.
For more information about heart health, please see recent studies about how to reverse heart failure with diet, and results showing cannabis and heart attack: what you need to know.
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