15/09/2026
People with (AF) have distinctive biomarkers in their retinas, evident as early as four years before clinical presentation of the condition, confirms a new study published in PLOS Digital Health.
The research team analysed retinal imaging data from more than 90,000 people and discovered differences in the structure of the retina in people with AF, compared with those who do not have the condition.
Among patients who did not have AF when their retinal images were taken, those who went on to develop AF had thinner mGCIPL layers on average four years before presenting to hospital with the condition, even after accounting for age, s*x, ethnicity, hypertension, diabetes, smoking and alcohol use. This indicates that retinal changes may be detectable before a clinical diagnosis of AF is made, at a stage when the condition has no symptoms.
Adding to the growing field of , the research was led by Josef Huemer and Siegfried Wagner at Moorfields Eye Hospital and UCL Institute of Ophthalmology with Kelsey Stuart, Yukun Zhou, Dominic Williamson, Peter Woodward-Court, Alastair Mobley, Arvind Chandratheva, Florian Berger, Nay Aung, Steffen Petersen, Professor Anthony Khawaja, Axel Petzold, Jugnoo Rahi, Alastair Denniston, Dipak Kotecha, Pearse Keane,
Praveen Patel.
The work was supported by Moorfields Eye Charity, NIHR Biomedical Research Centre: Moorfields, NIHR Biomedical Research Centre: UCLH, NIHR Biomedical Research Centre: GOSH, NIHR Biomedical Research Centre: Barts, NIHR Biomedical Research Centre: Birmingham, and enabled by INSIGHT Eye Hub.
