Systemic Disease

I recently read an interesting article that came in on my Healio news feed, which featured research by Wendy Harrison, OD, PhD, and colleagues on corneal hysteresis as a biomarker for prediabetes.

Despite being one of the most prevalent autoimmune diseases in the United States, Sjögren’s disease remains shrouded behind significant misconceptions and knowledge gaps that can delay diagnosis and appropriate treatment.

The retinal image-based, deep-learning cardiac BioAge model accurately stratified individuals by traditional cardiovascular disease risk biomarkers, with leukocyte telomere length inversely related to BioAge score, researchers reported.

More research is needed to improve diagnosis of dry eye disease in children, as well as to determine the safety and efficacy of treatment options in this population, according to a literature review published in The Ocular Surface.

The theme for this year’s World Optometry Week, March 17 to 23, is “Advancing Optometry’s Commitment to Global Eye Care,” the World Council of Optometry announced in a press release.

RetinalGeniX Technologies has been granted a patent for its System and Method for Visualization of Ocular Anatomy, designed to aid in diagnosis of ocular and systemic diseases, according to a company press release.

A new film, Open Your Eyes, which focuses on the important role of optometrists in health care and how ophthalmic testing can help detect systemic diseases, will premiere April 29 as a one-night-only virtual event.

As a retina specialist, my busy private practice sees a wide spectrum of the patient population. We have a significant number of patients on therapies for systemic conditions. These conditions can have multiple side effects on the eye; therefore, we are required to continually monitor these patients for toxicities.

Drugs that treat systemic diseases can be lifesaving, but when these drugs lead to poor ocular health or vision, the treatment paradigms can be difficult to balance. When a systemic disease and its treatment are negatively affecting vision, hard choices need to be made.

Systemic diseases are frequently the underlying cause of many ocular conditions. Also, ocular findings often provide clues that there may be an undiagnosed systemic disease. The first step in identifying a systemic etiology is a thorough history. Obviously, the questions asked are targeted based on the eye condition. For some conditions, I will initiate the workup myself. Then, depending upon the findings, I may need to refer, whether to the primary care physician or a specialist. This may include conditions such as ocular surface diseases (dry eye disease, episcleritis, scleritis, lid margin disease) and uveitis.