New Delhi. The vast majority of diabetic patients who develop diabetic retinopathy (eye involvement) have no symptoms until the very late stages (by which time it may be too late for effective treatment). Because the rate of progression may be rapid, therapy can be beneficial for both symptom amelioration as well as reduction in the rate of disease progression, it is important to screen patients with diabetes regularly for the development of retinal disease.

The eyes carry important early clues to heart disease, signaling damage to tiny blood vessels long before symptoms start to show elsewhere, said Dr K K Aggarwal, President Heart Care Foundation of India. Diabetic people with retinopathy are more likely to die of heart disease over the next 12 years than those without it.

As per a study from the University of Sydney and the University of Melbourne in Australia and the National University of Singapore, people with retinopathy are nearly twice as likely to die of heart disease as people without it. People with these changes in the eyes may be getting a first warning that damage is occurring in their arteries, and work to lower cholesterol and blood pressure.

Patients with retinopathy have a greater risk of incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) events, including heart attack, stroke, revascularization, and CVD death, compared with those without retinopathy.