November 19, 2009 
Retinopathy increases the probability of occurrence of heart diseases as much as diabetes, scientists have discovered after extensive study …
The eyes may show early signs of heart disease, signaling damage of tiny blood rib much before early symptoms arise in the rest of the body, according to scientists, says Reuters.
People with eye damage, retinopathy, are much more likely to die from heart disease over the next 12 years compared with people without retinopathy, was discovered by a team composed of scientific experts from Sydney, Melbourne and Singapore.
Research has studied retinal photographs of 3,000 people, of which most of them suffered from diabetes. Such images are often taken to see if the diabetes began to injure the eye. After that, they studied the mortality of those people.
In 12 years, the period the respondents were followed, 353 (11.9%) of them suddenly died of some form of heart disease.
Persons with retinopathy had almost twice higher mortality of people who didn’t have the disease.
Retinopathy increases the risk of heart disease at almost the same extent as diabetes, which is well known factor in heart disease occurrence, one of the leading causes of death in developed countries.
People with retinopathy should know that the disease is the symptom of changes that occur in their arteries, and thatthey should begin with efforts to reduce cholesterol levels and blood pressure, scientists say.
Taken from: www.javno.hr