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Pupil Size of Eyes Can Predict Death and Hospital Readmission in Heart Failure Patients - SciTechDaily
Aug 10, 2020 2 mins, 15 secs

Pupil size predicts death and hospital readmission in patients with heart failure, according to research published today in ESC Heart Failure, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

“Our results suggest that pupil area is a novel way to identify heart patients at elevated risk of death or hospital readmission,” said study author Dr.

Up to 45% of patients admitted to hospital with heart failure die within one year of admission and the majority die within five years of admission.

One of the causes of worsening heart failure is disturbed function of the body’s autonomic system, which controls heart rate, digestion, respiration, and so on.

However, this method is ineffective in patients with a heart rhythm disorder called atrial fibrillation, which is common in those with heart failure.

Pupil area is another way to assess autonomic function and has been used in patients with Parkinson’s disease and diabetes.

This study examined whether pupil area could predict prognosis in patients with heart failure.

The study was conducted in 870 patients hospitalized for acute heart failure in 2012 to 2017.

Patients were divided into the small pupil area group and large pupil area group according to whether their measurement was below or above the median (16.6 mm2).

They were then followed-up for all-cause death (the primary endpoint) and readmission due to heart failure (the secondary endpoint).

Results of the small and large pupil area groups were compared.

Over a median follow-up of 1.9 years, 131 patients died and 328 were rehospitalized because of heart failure.

Compared to the large pupil area group, patients in the small pupil area group had a significantly poorer survival rate and significantly higher rate of readmission for heart failure.

After adjusting for other factors that could affect prognosis such as body mass index (BMI) and kidney function, patients with a small pupil area had a 28% lower risk of all-cause mortality and an 18% reduced risk of readmission due to heart failure compared to patients with a large pupil area.

Our study indicates that it could be used in daily clinical practice to predict prognosis in patients with heart failure, including those who also have atrial fibrillation.

Patients with a small pupil area (e.g. less than 16.6 mm2) could be prioritized for cardiac rehabilitation with physical activity, which has been reported to improve autonomic function.”.

Nozaki noted that pupil area cannot be used in patients with severe retinopathy or other eye diseases.

“Prognostic value of pupil area for all-cause mortality in patients with heart failure” by Kohei Nozaki, Nobuaki Hamazaki, Shohei Yamamoto, Kentaro Kamiya, Shinya Tanaka, Takafumi Ichikawa, Takeshi Nakamura, Masashi Yamashita, Emi Maekawa, Atsuhiko Matsunaga, Minako Yamaoka‐Tojo and Junya Ako, 10 August 2020, ESC Heart Failure.

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