A healthy lifestyle for cardiovascular health also promotes good eye
health

Date:
August 20, 2020
Source:
Elsevier
Summary:
Investigators found that ideal cardiovascular health, which is
indicative of a healthy lifestyle, was associated with lower odds
for ocular diseases especially diabetic retinopathy. These findings
suggest that interventions to prevent cardiovascular diseases may
also hold promise in preventing ocular diseases.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
In a new study, investigators found that ideal cardiovascular health,
which is indicative of a healthy lifestyle, was associated with lower
odds for ocular diseases especially diabetic retinopathy. These findings appearing in the American Journal of Medicine, published by Elsevier,
suggest that interventions to prevent cardiovascular diseases may also
hold promise in preventing ocular diseases.


========================================================================== Globally, about 2.2 billion people suffer from ocular diseases leading
to vision impairment or blindness. Approximately half of these cases
could have been prevented. The leading causes of vision impairment or
blindness are age- related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, cataract, and glaucoma.

"Earlier studies have observed associations between eye diseases and
individual lifestyle factors such as smoking, obesity, or hypertension," explained lead investigator Duke Appiah, PhD, MPH, Department of Public
Health, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX,
USA. "It is known that these metrics of ideal cardiovascular health do not
work alone and may interact additively to result in diseases. However,
prior to our research, no other studies have comprehensively evaluated
the association of all of the metrics of ideal cardiovascular health
with ocular diseases." Most ocular diseases show few symptoms at early
stages and many people may not seek medical care despite readily available treatments. A recent online nationwide survey consisting of all racial and ethnic groups in the United States conducted by the Wilmer Eye Institute
at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine showed that 88 percent
of the 2,044 respondents considered good vision to be vital to overall
health with 47 percent of them rating losing their vision as the worst
disease that could ever happen to them. Alarmingly, 25 percent did not
have any knowledge about ocular diseases and their risk factors.

This research shows that following healthy lifestyle and behavior
habits can all contribute to good cardiovascular health as assessed by adherence to the American Heart Association's prescription for health
metric known as Life's Simple Seven (LS7). LS7 is based on the status of
seven cardiovascular disease risk factors: not smoking, regular physical activity, healthy diet, maintaining normal weight, and controlling
cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood glucose levels.

Practicing these healthy lifestyles together was found to be
associated with lower odds for age-related macular degeneration,
diabetic retinopathy, cataract, and glaucoma. Individuals with optimal cardiovascular health had 97 percent lower odds for diabetic retinopathy compared to individuals with inadequate cardiovascular health.

Investigators evaluated data from 6,118 adults aged 40 or more years old
who took part in the 2005-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

The average age of participants was 57 years old, 53 percent of whom were women. A one unit increase in LS7 scores was associated with reduced odds
for age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and glaucoma.

"Overall, we believe that primary prevention and early detection
approaches of ocular diseases are important, considering that over half
of all deaths from ocular diseases and cardiovascular diseases are known
to be preventable," commented co-investigators Noah De La Cruz, MPH,
and Obadeh Shabaneh, MPH, both from the Department of Public Health,
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX, USA.

Since there is a significant overlap of the risk factors for ocular
diseases and cardiovascular disease, the investigators recommended that screening for ocular diseases be incorporated into existing clinical
and population-based screenings for cardiovascular diseases.

"We hope that our study findings will encourage adherence to healthy
lifestyles in order to prevent these age-related diseases while also
leading to increased collaborations between cardiologists, optometrists,
and ophthalmologists in order to better prevent cardiovascular and ocular diseases," noted Dr. Appiah.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Elsevier. Note: Content may be edited
for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Noah De La Cruz, Obadeh Shabaneh, Duke Appiah. The Association
of Ideal
Cardiovascular Health and Ocular Diseases Among US
Adults. The American Journal of Medicine, 2020; DOI:
10.1016/j.amjmed.2020.06.004 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200820112842.htm

--- up 5 weeks, 1 day, 1 hour, 55 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1337:3/111)