A new study published in the Elseviers American Journal of Medicine has established that living a healthy lifestyle will help in protecting individuals from the risk of conditions such as cardiovascular illnesses, high blood sugar, and diabetes. Recently researchers linked heart health with eye health, especially diabetic retinopathy.
A new study shows the relationship between cardiovascular health and eye health
According to the study, the prevention of cardiovascular diseases could also help in lowering ocular disease risk. There are around 2.2 billion people globally suffering from ocular diseases that lead to blindness or vision impairment. Almost 50% of the cases could have been avoided. Usually, the main causes resulting in blindness and visual impairment are diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, glaucoma, and cataract.
The study’s lead investigator, Duke Appiah, indicated that previous studies have shown a relationship between individual lifestyle factors like obesity, smoking and hypertension, and eye diseases. Appiah indicated that cardiovascular health metrics do not work alone and could interact additively to cause diseases. No previous studies have shown the relationship between cardiovascular health and ocular diseases.
According to a recent online eye health survey by Wilmer Eye Institute at John Hopkins University School of Medicine, around 88% of the more than 2,000 respondents indicated that impaired vision is the worst condition to develop. However, 25% of the respondents didn’t have any knowledge regarding the risk factors that can lead to ocular disease.
A healthy lifestyle can lead to reducing the risk of ocular disease
The study established that living a healthy lifestyle can result in having good cardiovascular health according to the assessment by adherence to the Life’s Simple Seven (LS7) metric from the American Heart Association. The LS7 is based on 7 heart disease risk factors that include a healthy diet, not smoking, normal weight, controlling cholesterol, blood glucose, blood pressure, and regular exercising.
Research showed that following a healthy lifestyle was linked to lower chances of developing age-related macular degeneration, cataract, glaucoma, and diabetic retinopathy. Individuals with good cardiovascular health were 97% less likely to develop diabetic retinopathy relative to those with inadequate cardiovascular health.
