Your Eyes May Signal Your Risk for Stroke, Dementia

A study to be presented at the American Stroke Association's upcoming annual meeting found that older adults with the eye disease retinopathy were at higher risk of dementia and stroke and may die sooner than people their age without the disease, reports WebMD . The investigators determined that people with symptoms of retinopathy were twice as likely to report a history of stroke than those with no evidence of the disease. They also were 70 percent more likely to report memory problems, a potential sign of dementia. Moreover, people with the most severe retinopathy had a two- to three-fold higher risk of dying. Mayo Clinic Professor Michelle Lin advised people with retinopathy to work with their physician to get control of their risk factors for cardiovascular disease, like high blood pressure and high cholesterol.