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

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.