British researchers are working on an eye test coupled with artificial intelligence. This technology could accurately predict cardiovascular disease and death. The research findings are published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

According to recent studies, veins in the retina, called arterioles and venules, can provide information on the development of cardiovascular disease.

Based on this assumption, researchers have developed a fully automated artificial intelligence (AI)- enabled algorithmcalled QUARTZ in order to “develop models to assess the potential of retinal vasculature imaging plus known risk factors to predict vascular health and death,” explains the researchers’ news release.

To carry out their research, the specialists used retinal images of more than 88,000 UK residents aged between 40 and 69 years.

They then analysed the width, vessel area and degree of curvature (tortuosity) of arterioles and venules in the retina.

Using this information, they created different prediction models for stroke, heart attack and death from cardiovascular disease.

They then applied these models to the retinal images of 7,411 participants from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC)-Norfolk study. The volunteers, aged 48 to 92, were followed for seven to nine years.

The artificial intelligence achieved predictive performance similar to that of the Framingham Risk Score, a reference calculation that estimates cardiovascular risk over the next 10 years.

“In the general population, [this test] could be used as a non-contact form of systemic vascular health check, to triage those at medium-high risk of circulatory mortality for further clinical risk assessment and appropriate intervention,” the researchers say in a statement.