In a scientific study published on January 18 in the “British Journal of Ophthamology”, Australian, Chinese and German researchers revealed surprising results. These scientists were interested in the retina. They have developed an artificial intelligence capable of analyzing images of retinas in detail. The objective was to study the association between retinal age and mortality.
The difference between real age and retinal age
To fully understand this, it is necessary to know that the analysis of the retina makes it possible to know with precision the real biological age of a person. This is different from the physiological and chronological age that we all know. Indeed, it depends on our state of health, our possible illnesses and the “wear and tear” of our body. And precisely, by carefully analyzing the retina, scientists are able to detect people who are at risk of dying prematurely.
As part of this study, the researchers analyzed the retinas of tens of thousands of adults using artificial intelligence. They wanted to try to predict how many years a patient had left to live by analyzing their eye.
We can detect in the retina a higher risk of death
Concretely, it is currently impossible to read the date of our death in a retina. Nevertheless, the analysis gives interesting information. In particular, they estimate that when the retinal age is much higher than the real age, this is “significantly associated with 49% to 67% higher risks of death, other than cardiovascular disease or cancer”. “If the algorithm predicts that a person’s retina is one year older than their actual age, their risk of death from any cause in the next eleven years increases by 2%. At the same time, his risk of death from a cause other than cardiovascular disease or cancer increases by 3%, ”explains the Science Alert site, relayed by Slate.
In this study, the scientists also indicated that the cells present at the back of the eye might predict the onset of certain cardiovascular and kidney diseases. They also believe that the retina might be the “window” of neurological diseases.