RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Retinopathy predicts coronary heart disease mortality
JF Heart
JO Heart
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and British Cardiovascular Society
SP 391
OP 394
DO 10.1136/hrt.2008.146670
VO 95
IS 5
A1 G Liew
A1 T Y Wong
A1 P Mitchell
A1 N Cheung
A1 J J Wang
YR 2009
UL http://heart.bmj.com/content/95/5/391.abstract
AB Background: Retinopathy lesions are fairly common findings in clinic settings and may predict risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Objective: To examine whether retinopathy independently predicts a risk of CHD-related mortality in people with and without diabetes. Methods: In an Australian population-based cohort of people with (n = 199) and without (n = 2768) diabetes (Blue Mountains Eye Study, total n = 2967), the presence and severity of retinopathy was assessed from retinal photographs. 12-Year cumulative CHD deaths were ascertained from Australian National Death Index records. Results: Over 12 years, 353 participants (11.9%) had incident CHD-related deaths. Retinopathy was present in 57/199 (28.6%) participants with, and in 268/2768 (9.7%) without, diabetes. The presence of retinopathy increased the CHD mortality rate per person-year by an amount (0.005) equivalent to the presence of diabetes itself (12-year CHD mortality rate per person-year of 0.010 in people with neither diabetes nor retinopathy, 0.015 in those with diabetes alone, 0.016 in those with retinopathy alone). After adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors, retinopathy remained an independent predictor of CHD death both in people with diabetes (hazard ratio (HR) = 2.21, 95% CI 1.20 to 4.05) and in those without diabetes (HR = 1.33, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.83). Moderate retinopathy was associated with adjusted HR = 6.68 (95% CI 2.24 to 20.0) in people with diabetes and adjusted HR = 2.29 (95% CI 1.10 to 4.76) in people without diabetes. Conclusions: A finding of retinopathy in people with or without diabetes may signal increased CHD risk. The increased CHD mortality associated with retinopathy in people without diabetes was equivalent to the presence of diabetes itself.