Heart News
People who had lazy eye might be at increased risk of hypertension and heart attack
�indings could help prevent or identify common health pro�lems at an early stage
Adults who suffered from lazy eye during childhood could be more likely to also have hypertension , obesity , and heart attacks , according to a new UK study .
Researchers at University College London asked more than 126,000 individuals aged 40 to 69 during their eye examinations whether they were treated for amblyopia , or lazy eye , and if they suffered from diabetes , high blood pressure , or a heart attack . The results showed that people who had childhood amblyopia were 29 percent more likely to develop diabetes , while also having 25 percent higher odds of having hypertension .
However , the researchers stressed their findings were only associational and do not prove that lazy eye problems cause health issues later on .
Amblyopia is a condition leading to reduced vision in one eye due to abnormal visual development and usually starts in childhood . The new study showed that even adults with no vision issues after recovering from amblyopia were still at an increased risk of health problems , though the relationship was stronger in adults who kept having vision problems in adulthood .
“ It is rare to have a ‘ marker ’ in childhood that is associated with increased risk of serious disease in adult life , and also one that is measured and known for every child – because of population screening ,” study author Professor Jugnoo Rahi from the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and Great Ormond Street Hospital , said in a press release . �The large numbers of affected children and their families , may want to think of our findings as an extra incentive for trying to achieve healthy lifestyles from childhood .”
Artificial intelligence can predict higher risk of heart attacks
The new tool could offer lifesaving information to prevent deadly heart pro�lems
Another promising research finding from the world of artificial intelligence ( AI ) suggests that it is able to identify who ’ s at higher risk of having a heart attack among people who undergo a CT scan for chest pain , providing an additional diagnostic tool that could save many lives .
While people with chest pain usually undergo a CT scan to check whether their arteries are narrowed in a way that may lead to future blockages causing heart attacks , most don ’ t show any signs of narrowing but will still suffer from potentially fatal heart attacks in the future .
Researchers from the University of Oxford analysed data from more than 40,000 people who underwent CT scans and fed different types of data , such as parameters around fat in inflamed arteries and their narrowing , into an AI system . They found this approach could predict that people with highly inflamed arteries had a 10-fold higher risk of dying from heart problems compared to individuals with lower levels of inflammation .
“ Our study found that some patients presenting in hospital with chest pain – who are often reassured and sent back home – are at high risk of having a heart attack in the next decade , even in the absence of any sign of disease in their heart arteries . Here we demonstrated that providing an accurate picture of risk to clinicians can alter and potentially improve the course of treatment for many heart patients ,” Professor Charalambos Antoniades , Director of the Acute Multidisciplinary Imaging & Interventional Centre at the University of Oxford , said in a press release .
18 ISSUE 1 | 2024 GlobalHealthAsiaPacific . com