New research recently presented at the American Heart Association Epidemiology and Prevention | Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health 2017 Scientific Sessions has found retina abnormalities may predict a higher risk of later narrowing in the large blood vessels of the legs, called peripheral artery disease (PAD).
Researchers reportedly examined retinal photographs of over 9,000 adults who, at the time, did not have PAD. During a 19-year follow-up, researchers found 304 of those adults developed PAD and 92 of them had the most severe form of PAD called critical limb ischemia (CLI), resulting in ulcers on the leg, gangrene or the need for amputation.
After adjusting for common PAD risk factors, such as diabetes, investigators reportedly found when scans showed any type of abnormalities in the retina, there was a 2.16 times greater risk of PAD developing during the follow-up period, and a 3.41 times greater risk of CLI. Additionally, researchers found individual retinal abnormalities — including bleeding, yellow spots from the breakdown of lipids (hard exudates) and areas of blood protruding from vessels in the back of the eye (microaneurysm) — were also associated with the risk of PAD or CLI.
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Source: American Heart Association