Retinal scan can predict the risk of death in the next 10 years

The researchers suggest that in the future, retinal scans of the eyes could be used to calculate a person's risk of death.

According to Dailymail, researchers claim that the retina acts as a window, helping doctors learn more deeply about someone's health.

Australian scientists suggest that a larger retinal age gap is associated with a higher risk of death.

The biological age of the retina can be calculated using an AI program.

The retinal age gap is the distance between a person's actual age and the estimated biological age of the retina.

The biological age of the retina can be calculated using an artificial intelligence program that analyzes images taken of the fundus, i.e. the inner back surface of the eye. Some eye doctors can offer this eye scan.

According to Australian experts who followed volunteers for 11 years, those with a 10-year gap between their actual and biological retinal age had a 67% higher risk of death.

The researchers calculated that for each year of difference, there was a 2% increase in the risk of death.

Scholars at Melbourne's Eye Research Center have taught an artificial intelligence algorithm to predict retinal age using 19,000 fundus scans. The program's estimates were found to be correct.

The team then assessed the retinal age gap of 36,000 participants taken from the UK Biobank.

The retinas of more than half of retirees are at least three years older than their actual biological age. Some people have retinas that are decades older.

They then combined this data with health data from the participants over an average of 11 years, thereby tying the cause of death to the retinal age gap.

During this time, 1,800 (5%) participants died. Most die from cancer, dementia or heart disease.

Large retinal age is associated with a 49-67% higher risk of death from causes other than heart disease or cancer.

The same study, using images of the retina taken from the left eye, produced similar results, the researchers also applied.

Dr Lisa Zhuoting Zhu, one of the study authors, said: 'These findings suggest that retinal age may be a clinically important biomarker of the aging process. The retina is a single, accessible 'window' to the assessment of the underlying pathological processes of vascular and nervous system diseases that are associated with an increased risk of mortality'.

This hypothesis is supported by previous studies, which suggested that retinal imaging contains information about cardiovascular risk factors, chronic kidney disease, and systemic biological features.

Retinal scans have previously been used to detect some warning signs of cardiovascular disease.