Retinopathy as an independent indicator of all-causes mortality

The association between retinopathy and mortality in hypertensive patients is well established. At the same level of blood pressure the prognosis gets worse with increasing seriousness of retinopathy. To assess the prognostic value of retinopathy for all-causes mortality, we studied the data from a general health survey of 1583 men and 1508 women after 15 and 25 years of follow up. Among the men a clear association was found in the first 15 years. Among the women a weaker association was found only after 25 years of follow-up. This association was independent of hypertension or other cardiovascular risk indicators, such as obesity, serum cholesterol, smoking or proteinuria.