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Could it be that an eyeball examination can predict whether you are at risk of dying earlier? Scientists have no doubts about it. Research is ongoing to bring them closer to this knowledge. Get to know the details of their work.
Obviously, aging has an impact on the body of all of us. However, the physical condition of peers can deteriorate at completely different rates. It turns out that looking deep into a person’s eyes is sometimes a much better way to measure their true biological age. Perhaps soon it will be possible to predict the health of patients.
- See: “Aging rate” genes discovered
Can an eyeball test show how long we will live?
A machine constructed by British scientists has been taught to predict a person’s life span by examining their retina, the tissue at the back of the eye. The algorithm is so accurate that it was able to predict the age of almost 47. Middle-aged and older Britons in the age range of 3,5 years. A little over a decade after their retinas were scanned, 1871 patients died. Those who had older eye tissue were more likely to be in this group. If the algorithm predicted that a person’s retina is one year older than their actual age, the risk of dying from any cause in the next 11 years has increased by 2%. At the same time, their risk of dying from a cause other than cardiovascular disease or cancer has increased by 3%.
The above findings are purely observational and have been published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology. It is still unknown what drives this relationship on a biological level. Nevertheless, the results support a growing body of evidence that the retina is very sensitive to damage from aging. All because this visible tissue contains both blood vessels and nerves. Thanks to this, it can provide us with important information about the condition of the vessels and brain of a person.
- Take the test: Find out how old you really are. Biological age calculator
Further part below the video.
Diseases that are predictable on the basis of an examination of the eyeball
Previous research has suggested that the cells at the back of the human eye may help predict the onset of cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, and other signs of aging. The researchers’ latest work is the first in which the “retinal age difference” is a strong predictor of mortality as a whole.
‘The significant link between retinal age and non-cardiovascular or cancer mortality, together with growing evidence of an eye-brain link, could support the notion that the retina is a’ window on ‘neurological diseases,’ write British researchers.
Since only 20 people in the study died from dementia, the authors were unable to link this particular brain disorder to retinal health. Researchers also point out that cardiovascular deaths have fallen in recent years as medicine is able to prevent what was once fatal. This means that retinal health may still be an important lens for cardiovascular health, even though it has not been linked to such mortality.
- See also: Alzheimer’s disease can be recognized by the eyes. Revolutionary research results
Other existing biological age predictors, such as neuroimaging, DNA methylation clock, and transcriptome aging clock, are not as accurate as the retinal age difference appears to be. These methods can also be costly, time consuming and invasive. Meanwhile, the retina can be easily scanned in less than five minutes. If we learn more about how this layer of tissue connects to the rest of the body, doctors will have a great new tool in their hands.
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- Eye pain. Diseases that are manifested by pain in the eyeball
- Viagra can cause permanent vision problems
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