Heart. Published Online First: 8 January 2009. doi:10.1136/hrt.2008.158121
Editorials |
The Eye - window to the soul or a mirror of systemic health? Or:What weight to give retinopathy as a risk factor for IHD
1 Clinical Gerontology Unit, United Kingdom
2 Division of Genetics and Epidemiology, UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, United Kingdom
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: kk101{at}medschl.cam.ac.uk.
Accepted 23 December 2008
Abstract
It has been said that there is no systemic disease which does not have a sign identifiable on ophthalmic examination. For many physicians, retinopathy- microaneurysms, haemorrhages, "hard" lipid exudates, micro-infarcts of the retinal nerve fibre layer (cotton wool spots)- is synonymous with diabetes. A clinically distinct form of retinopathy is also recognised in hypertension, although traditionally, abnormalities of arteriovenous crossing architecture are the sine qua non feature of hypertensive retinopathy, with haemorrhagic and exudative changes only following later. However, population-based research has shown that shown that retinopathy is a relatively common finding in older people without diabetes.(1)
Relevant Article
- Retinopathy predicts coronary heart disease mortality
- G Liew, T Y Wong, P Mitchell, N Cheung, and J J Wang
Heart 2009 95: 391-394.[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
