A recent study from researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, has found a strong connection between heart health and the risk of developing serious eye problems.
The study shows that a common tool used to measure the risk of heart disease—the Pooled Cohort Equations (PCE) cardiovascular risk score—may also help predict a person’s chances of getting certain eye diseases as they age.
The PCE score is usually used by doctors to estimate the risk of heart attacks or strokes in people over 40. It considers factors like age, blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking habits, and diabetes.
But in this new study, scientists found that people with a high PCE score are also more likely to develop several eye diseases, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD), glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy (DR), retinal vein occlusion (RVO), and hypertensive retinopathy (HTR).
To understand this link, the researchers looked at health records from a large database called the “All of Us” Research Program. This program includes health data from thousands of people across the United States. In the study, they focused on 35,909 adults between the ages of 40 and 79 who had enough medical information to calculate their PCE scores.
Participants were divided into four groups based on their heart disease risk: low, borderline, intermediate, and high. The researchers then looked to see how many people in each group developed eye diseases over time. They found that people in the high-risk group were much more likely to develop eye problems than those in the low-risk group.
For example, compared to people with low heart risk, those in the high-risk group were more than six times as likely to develop AMD and nearly six times as likely to get diabetic retinopathy.
They were also over two times more likely to develop glaucoma, three times more likely to get retinal vein occlusion, and over four times as likely to have hypertensive retinopathy.
These numbers are based on something called “hazard ratios,” which show how much more likely one group is to develop a condition compared to another. Even after adjusting for factors like race, body weight, kidney disease, and education, the link between heart risk and eye disease remained strong—especially for diabetic and hypertensive eye problems.
The study also tested how well the PCE score could predict eye disease by using “C-indices,” which measure prediction accuracy. Higher numbers mean better prediction. The PCE score was especially good at predicting diabetic retinopathy and hypertensive retinopathy. It was slightly less accurate for glaucoma and retinal vein occlusion, but still useful.
One interesting finding was that the strong link between heart risk and macular degeneration was mostly due to age. But the link between the PCE score and diabetic or hypertensive eye disease stayed strong even after adjusting for age and other factors.
This research suggests that doctors could use the PCE heart score not only to protect patients from heart problems, but also to identify who may be at risk for eye diseases. Catching these conditions early could help prevent vision loss and improve quality of life for many people.
Overall, this study highlights the connection between heart health and eye health, showing that a simple heart risk test could help doctors spot early warning signs of eye disease. It encourages a more complete approach to health care—one that looks at the whole body instead of just one part.
If you care about heart disease, please read studies that herbal supplements could harm your heart rhythm, and how eating eggs can help reduce heart disease risk.
For more health information, please see recent studies that apple juice could benefit your heart health, and results showing yogurt may help lower the death risks in heart disease.
The study is published in Ophthalmology.
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