{
  "id": 11479094,
  "title": "What your eyes could reveal about your heart health",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/02/what-your-eyes-could-reveal-about-your-heart-health",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-10-02T16:20:04.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Medical Xpress",
    "slug": "medical-xpress",
    "url": "https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-eyes-reveal-heart-health.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Researchers are investigating whether images of the eye can provide insights into heart health. The retina, located at the back of the eye, relies heavily on blood supply and oxygen, and its blood vessels are part of the broader circulatory system. Changes in the eye could potentially reflect processes happening elsewhere in the body, including the cardiovascular system. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a technology that uses light to create detailed cross-sectional images of the retina, allowing for examination of individual layers in remarkable detail. A recent study analyzed retinal images from 50,651 people linked with hospital records in the AlzEye database, and 39,013 individuals from the UK Biobank. Those with atrial fibrillation, a common heart rhythm disorder, had thinner retinal layers and altered blood vessel measurements compared to those without the condition. Specifically, people with atrial fibrillation had a thinner macular ganglion cell–inner plexiform layer, a part of the retinal inner layer involved in transmitting visual information to the brain. Over an average follow-up period of 10.3 years, 838 participants from the UK Biobank group were diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, occurring an average of about four years after their retinal imaging. Among these newly diagnosed individuals, a thinner ganglion cell–inner plexiform layer was associated with a 27% higher risk of developing atrial fibrillation. While this study establishes an association between retinal thinning and atrial fibrillation, it cannot prove causation or predict who will develop the condition. Additionally, atrial fibrillation can be intermittent and may not be present during examinations, making detection challenging. The study also acknowledges potential confounding factors that cannot be fully accounted for. If further research confirms the reliability of retinal features in identifying cardiovascular risk, retinal imaging could potentially serve as a noninvasive screening tool for heart health.",
  "summary": "More than 2,000 years ago, the Greek mathematician Euclid began his treatise \"Optics\" with an assumption that now sounds peculiar: visual rays traveled out from the eye toward the objects we see.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}