Eyes May Serve as Window into Assessing a Person's Stroke Risk

A simple retinal imaging technique may one day help assess a person's risk for developing a stroke, a new report published in the journal Hypertension argues.

Although scientists are aware that, worldwide, high blood pressure is the most significant risk factor for stroke, there is currently no way of predicting which patients with high blood pressure are most likely to develop one. Given that the retina offers insight into the status of the brain's blood vessels, however, a new study offers compelling evidence that the answer could lie in the eyes.

Led by Dr. Mohammad Kamran Ikram of the National University of Singapore, researchers tracked stroke occurrence for an average of 13 years in nearly 3,000 patients who had high blood pressure but had not previously undergone a stroke. Photographs were taken of each participant's retina, which were then scored in regards to damage to the retinal blood vessels due to hypertension -- a condition called hyptertensive retinopathy.

After adjusting for factors such as age, sex, race, cholesterol levels, blood sugar, smoking, body mass index and blood pressure readings, the scientists found that the risk of stroke was 35 percent higher in those with mild hyptertensive retinopathy and 137 percent higher for those with moderate or severe hypertensive retinopathy.

Furthermore, the study showed that even in medicated patients demonstrating good blood pressure control, the risk of a blood clot was 96 percent higher in those with mild hypertensive retinopathy and 198 percent higher for those with moderate or severe hypertensive retinopathy.

While Ikram acknowledges that it is too early to begin recommending changes in regards to clinical practice, the study, he says, points toward a new and promising direction for further research.

"Other studies need to confirm our findings and examine whether retinal imaging can be useful in providing additional information about stroke risk in people with high blood pressure," he concluded.