Diseases & Conditions

Can your eyes see Alzheimer’s disease in your future?

Certain eye conditions offer clues to your chances of developing dementia.

But perhaps what's more interesting about the study results, says Dr. Albert Hofman, chair of epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, is that cataracts, another common age-related eye condition, had no apparent connection to dementia risk. This gives scientists an important clue about the cause of dementia and Alzheimer's disease, he says. "My view, and one of the possible explanations that the authors present, is that these three eye diseases and Alzheimer's and dementia have a joined etiology" — that is, a common causative factor. "All are linked to cardiovascular disease," says Dr. Hofman. Specifically:

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