Early lens aging is accelerated in subjects with a high risk of ischemic heart disease: an epidemiologic study

BACKGROUND Ischemic heart disease (IHD) is one of the most important causes of mortality and morbidity in the Western world. There is a relationship between aging of the lens of the human eye and cardiovascular disease. The present study was conducted to examine if the risk of ischemic heart disease could be estimated by fluorophotometric assessment of lens aging. METHODS A total of 421 subjects were included. Risk of IHD was estimated from non-ocular data using the Precard software. Lens aging was quantified by lens fluorometry. RESULTS The risk of IHD was strongly related to lens fluorophore accumulation (p = 0.001). The relationship between IHD and lens aging was attributable to tobacco smoking and dysglycemia. CONCLUSION The risk of ischemic heart disease related to smoking and diabetes mellitus can be estimated using the aging of the lens of the eye as a biomarker for generalized tissue-damage.