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Review
. 2025 Sep 20;17(9):e92813.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.92813. eCollection 2025 Sep.

A Systematic Review on Whether Retinal Artery Microaneurysms Are Reliable Predictors of Coronary Artery Disease Severity

Ameer A Khan  1 , Muhammad Saleem  1 , Munir Khan  2 , Majd El Rifai  3 , Thet Myat Noe  4 , OIiver Biggs  3 , Muhmood Elnaiem  5 , Faqir Mohammad Khan Karim  6
Affiliations
Review

A Systematic Review on Whether Retinal Artery Microaneurysms Are Reliable Predictors of Coronary Artery Disease Severity

Ameer A Khan et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Coronary artery disease (CAD) remains one of the leading causes of mortality in the UK. The growing and ageing population has led to increasing CAD prevalence and escalating healthcare costs. Current diagnostic tools like coronary angiography are too invasive for large population-level screening. Retinal artery microaneurysms (RAMs) are caused by microvascular damage and are detectable via non-invasive eye screening. This raises the possibility of a novel screening tool to help identify individuals at risk of CAD. This systematic review investigates whether RAMs are a reliable predictor of CAD severity. A Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA)-compliant approach was used in the review, and eligible studies were selected. Preliminary evidence suggests that RAMs may serve as a non-invasive indicator of CAD severity, enabling more non-invasive approaches in helping cardiovascular risk stratification of the general population. Integration of retinal imaging into cardiovascular risk assessment protocols could hold promise for the future of preventative cardiology.

Keywords: cad: coronary artery disease; predictors of cad; preventive medicine; retina; retinal artery microaneurysms.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. PRISMA flowchart
PRISMA: Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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