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Retinopathy may be a risk factor for coronary heart disease
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Regardless of diabetes status, retinopathy appears to increase the risk of coronary heart disease in the long term, according to a new analysis of data from the Blue Mountains Eye Study.
"The increased [coronary heart disease] mortality associated with retinopathy in persons without diabetes was equivalent to the presence of diabetes itself," the study authors said in the August issue of Heart.
Gerald Liew, MD, and colleagues evaluated the 12-year presence and severity of retinopathy using retinal photographs obtained from 199 patients with diabetes and 2,768 subjects without diabetes. The investigators established the 12-year cumulative coronary heart disease death rate using Australian National Death Index records.
Coronary heart disease-related deaths were reported in 353 participants (11.9%) over 12 years.
The investigators identified retinopathy in 57 participants with diabetes (28.6%) and in 268 participants (9.7%) without the disease. However, they found that the presence of retinopathy increased the coronary heart disease mortality rate per person-years by an amount equivalent to the presence of diabetes itself.
After adjusting for other cardiovascular risk factors, retinopathy was an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease death in subjects with and without diabetes.