The eyes may be the window to the soul – and future hypertension, according to research reported in Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association. The tiny vessels that supply blood to the retina appear to narrow before blood pressure exceeds normal ranges, said study co-author Paul Mitchell, M.D., Ph.D., professor of ophthalmology at the Center for Vision Research at the University of Sydney and Westmead Hospital, NSW, Australia. A long-term study suggests that people with relatively narrowed retinal arterioles (the tiny vessels of the retina) are twice as likely to develop severe hypertension in five years as people with relatively wider arterioles.
