Heart Risk Factors Raise Vision Issues

(May 13, 2008) - Some of the things that put you in greater danger of having a heart attack (Read about "Heart Risks" "Heart Attack") may also put you in danger of losing your sight. (Read about "The Eye") High blood pressure and high cholesterol levels (Read about "Hypertension: High Blood Pressure" "Cholesterol") appear to be risk factors for retinal vein occlusion, a condition that causes vision loss, according to a report in the Archives of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Retinal vein occlusion occurs when one or more veins carrying blood from the eye to the heart become blocked, according to background information in the article. Bleeding (hemorrhage) or fluid buildup (edema) may follow, damaging vision.

Researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 21 previously published studies involving 2,916 individuals with retinal vein occlusion and 28,646 control participants without the condition.

Of patients with retinal vein occlusion, 63.6 percent had hypertension, compared with 36.2 percent of controls; those with high blood pressure had more than 3.5 times the odds of having retinal vein occlusion. High cholesterol levels were more than twice as common among patients with retinal vein occlusion as those without (35.1 percent vs. 16.7 percent), and those with high cholesterol levels had an approximately 2.5-fold higher risk of retinal vein occlusion. Diabetes (Read about "Diabetes") was slightly more prevalent among those with retinal vein occlusion than among those without (14.6 percent vs. 11.1 percent).