A study conducted by UCLA Health has found that a commonly used cardiovascular risk score can help predict the future development of serious eye diseases. The research, published in Ophthalmology, analyzed data from 35,909 adults aged 40 to 79 who participated in the All of Us Research Program between 2009 and 2015.
Researchers calculated each participant's Pooled Cohort Equations (PCE) cardiovascular risk score using standard health metrics such as cholesterol levels, blood pressure, smoking status, and diabetes. Participants were then grouped into four categories based on their risk: Low (less than 5%), Borderline (5-7.4%), Intermediate (7.5-19.9%), and High (20% or greater). Over several years of follow-up, the team tracked which individuals developed eye conditions including age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, retinal vein occlusion, and hypertensive retinopathy.
The study found that people with higher cardiovascular risk scores had a significantly increased likelihood of developing these eye diseases. Those in the High-risk group were over six times more likely to develop age-related macular degeneration and nearly six times more likely to develop diabetic retinopathy compared to those in the Low-risk group. Elevated risks were also observed for hypertensive retinopathy, retinal vein occlusion, and glaucoma.
These results suggest that primary care physicians could use existing cardiovascular risk assessments to identify patients who may benefit from earlier referral to eye specialists for comprehensive screening. According to Dr. Anne L. Coleman, senior author of the study and chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at UCLA Health: "We found that a simple score already calculated in millions of doctor visits each year may meaningfully predict who will develop serious eye diseases," she said. "This gives us an opportunity to identify high-risk patients early, when preventive measures might still protect their vision. The beauty of this approach is that it requires no additional testing; the information is already there in the medical record."
The researchers note that further studies are needed to determine how best to integrate this approach into routine care and whether early detection based on cardiovascular risk scores can reduce rates of vision loss.
