Retinal microvascular signs as screening and prognostic factors for cardiac disease: a systematic review of current evidence

The substantial burden of heart disease promotes an interest in new ways of screening for early disease diagnosis, especially by means of non-invasive imaging. Increasing evidence for association between retinal microvascular signs and heart disease prompted us to systematically investigate the relevant current literature on the subject. We scrutinized the current literature by searching PubMed and Embase databases from 2000 to 2020 for clinical studies of the association between retinal microvascular signs and prevalent or incident heart disease in humans.