A study led by University College London (UCL) and Moorfields Eye Hospital has found that signs of atrial fibrillation (AF) can be detected in the retina up to four years before a formal diagnosis.
Published in PLOS Digital Health, the research analysed retinal imaging data from more than 90,000 participants and found that people with AF consistently showed thinner retinal tissue, compared with those without the condition.
Atrial fibrillation is the most common heart rhythm disorder, and it affects more than 1.5 million people in the UK. It substantially raises the risk of stroke, heart failure and death.
It often occurs intermittently and can be missed on a standard electrocardiogram (ECG). As a consequence, many cases remain undiagnosed until a serious or life-threatening complication occurs.
The non-invasive scanning could help detect the condition early on and patients can start treatment without delay.
The authors propose that the thinning of retinal tissue they observed in people who developed or had atrial fibrillation could indicate mini strokes in the brain that typically occur as a result of atrial fibrillation before its diagnosis.
They said that thinning could happen because blood flow to the retinal nerve cells is reduced by these strokes.
Senior author Dr Siegfried Wagner (UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust) said: “This large-scale analysis shows that retinal imaging can pick up on structural changes within the eye that are clearly linked to atrial fibrillation. For patients, the value of this kind of eye imaging is that it is easy to access, quick and doesn’t involve any invasive procedures.
“Although not intended to replace ECG-based diagnosis, retinal imaging could act as a complementary tool, catching those most at risk of atrial fibrillation before it causes real harm.”
