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Your eyes may indicate your risk of heart disease

By | September 28, 2009, 1:43 PM PDT

Australian researchers believe the eyes may indicate a person’s risk of heart disease and stroke.

Researchers at the Centre for Eye Research Australia believe that blood vessels in the retina at the back of the eye reflect changes in blood vessels in other parts of the body — particularly the brain, kidneys and heart.

Cardiovascular diseases change the appearance of blood vessels in eye, so the researchers are using computers to analyze images of vessels in the retina to see if the non-invasive procedure can accurately determine a person’s risk of heart attack or stroke.

The team has taken thousands of eye images and developed a program to recognize common features of conditions that cause damage of the retina.

Finding and treating high risk people early is key, since a person who exhibits symptoms of cardiovascular disease already has had damage done to their body.

Successfully doing so could avoid heart attack or stroke.

Heart disease remains the top killer in the world, claiming 29 percent of people who die each year.

Doctors currently determine risk by taking individual factors into account, such smoking habits, family history, weight, blood cholesterol and blood pressure. More extensive and sometimes invasive tests, such as an angiogram, are used once a person develops symptoms.

An early, non-invasive test such as this could help avoid hospitalization and save lives.

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Andrew Nusca

About Andrew Nusca

Andrew Nusca is editor of SmartPlanet.

Andrew Nusca

Andrew Nusca

Editor

Andrew Nusca is editor of SmartPlanet and an associate editor for ZDNet. Previously, he worked at Money, Men's Vogue and Popular Mechanics magazines. He holds degrees from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and New York University. He based in New York but resides in Philadelphia.

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Andrew Nusca

Andrew Nusca
Andrew Nusca does not hold any investments in the companies he covers.
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RE: Your eyes may indicate your risk of heart disease
what is meant by heart disease. we all have to die of something and having one's heart cease working is common and mostly cannot be claimed tto be a disease, it is just old age. my mother died at 96 because of congestive heart failure. would she be one who is claimed to have died of ' heart disease'?does one, and old one, who died because his kidneys finally could not process the wastes it used to could be said to have succumbed to kidney disease, but that would be incorrect.
we ought to be able to pick some age or age range after which death is not caused by a disease that wants funding, but just becauise the body has run down rnough so that it can no longer keep itself alive.
Posted by stilt21
29th Sep 2009
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When your time is done
your time is done. There is nothing you can do about it.
Posted by katrillionaire@...
3rd Oct 2009
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