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56/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 56 out of 100. Digital health tools

Topic: Brain proteins, microglia and lab models

The accessibility of the retina with the use of non-invasive and relatively low-cost ophthalmic imaging techniques and analytics provides a unique opportunity to improve the detection, diagnosis and monitoring of systemic diseases. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute conducted a workshop in October 2022 to examine this concept. On the basis of the discussions at that workshop, this Roadmap describes current knowledge gaps and new research opportunities to evaluate the relationships between the eye (in particular, retinal biomarkers) and the risk of cardiovascular diseases, including coronary artery disease, heart failure, stroke, hypertension and vascular dementia. Identified gaps include the need to simplify and standardize the capture of high-quality images of the eye by non-ophthalmic health workers and to conduct longitudinal studies using multidisciplinary networks of diverse at-risk populations with improved implementation and methods to protect participant and dataset privacy. Other gaps include improving the measurement of structural and functional retinal biomarkers, determining the relationship between microvascular and macrovascular risk factors, improving multimodal imaging 'pipelines', and integrating advanced imaging with 'omics', lifestyle factors, primary care data and radiological reports, by using artificial intelligence technology to improve the identification of individual-level risk. Future research on retinal microvascular disease and retinal biomarkers might additionally provide insights into the temporal development of microvascular disease across other systemic vascular beds.

Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris

APA 7th

Chew, E. Y., Burns, S. A., Abraham, A. G., Bakhoum, M. F., Beckman, J. A., Chui, T. Y. P., et al. (2025). Standardization and clinical applications of retinal imaging biomarkers for cardiovascular disease: a Roadmap from an NHLBI workshop. Nature reviews. Cardiology. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41569-024-01060-8

Vancouver

Chew EY, Burns SA, Abraham AG, Bakhoum MF, Beckman JA, Chui TYP, et al. Standardization and clinical applications of retinal imaging biomarkers for cardiovascular disease: a Roadmap from an NHLBI workshop. Nature reviews. Cardiology. 2025. doi:10.1038/s41569-024-01060-8. PMID: 39039178.

BibTeX

@article{chew2025-39039178,
  author  = {Chew, E. Y. and Burns, S. A. and Abraham, A. G. and Bakhoum, M. F. and Beckman, J. A. and Chui, T. Y. P. and Finger, R. P. and Frangi, A. F. and others},
  title   = {{Standardization and clinical applications of retinal imaging biomarkers for cardiovascular disease: a Roadmap from an NHLBI workshop}},
  journal = {Nature reviews. Cardiology},
  year    = {2025},
  doi     = {10.1038/s41569-024-01060-8},
  pmid    = {39039178},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41569-024-01060-8}
}

Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.

Key findings

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute conducted a workshop in October 2022 to examine this concept.
On the basis of the discussions at that workshop, this Roadmap describes current knowledge gaps and new research opportunities to evaluate the relationships between the eye (in particular, retinal biomarkers) and the risk of cardiovascular diseases, including coronary artery disease, heart failure, stroke, hypertension and vascular dementia.
Identified gaps include the need to simplify and standardize the capture of high-quality images of the eye by non-ophthalmic health workers and to conduct longitudinal studies using multidisciplinary networks of diverse at-risk populations with improved implementation and methods to protect participant and dataset privacy.
Other gaps include improving the measurement of structural and functional retinal biomarkers, determining the relationship between microvascular and macrovascular risk factors, improving multimodal imaging 'pipelines', and integrating advanced imaging with 'omics', lifestyle factors, primary care data and radiological reports, by using artificial intelligence technology to improve the identification of individual-level risk.
Future research on retinal microvascular disease and retinal biomarkers might additionally provide insights into the temporal development of microvascular disease across other systemic vascular beds.

Why it matters

This Roadmap from a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute workshop describes current knowledge gaps and research opportunities to evaluate relationships between retinal biomarkers and risk of cardiovascular diseases, including vascular dementia. Identified gaps include the need to simplify and standardize image capture by non-ophthalmic health workers and to conduct longitudinal studies using multidisciplinary networks of diverse at-risk populations.

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Study details

Study designlongitudinal study
Evidence strengthModerate

How this study scored 56/100

Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a longitudinal study following the same people over time. Scored zero for sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	7 / 10	Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Nature reviews. Cardiology)
Journal's citation record	3 / 4	Nature Reviews Cardiology: journal h-index 250 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29)
Study design	7 / 12	A longitudinal study following the same people over time
Strength of evidence	3 / 5	Rated “moderate” in our summary
Peer-review validation	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	4 / 5	2025 — within 3 year(s) of the newest study here
Sample size	0 / 4	Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Effect reported	0 / 3	No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Studied in people	0 / 3	Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Randomised / blinded	0 / 2	No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	4 / 7	Cited 56 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	3 / 5	18.7 citations a year over 3 year(s) since 2025
Impact for its field and year	3 / 6	Cited 4.9× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI)
Cited by studies here	0 / 6	No other study in this library cites it
Still being cited	3 / 4	Cited 56 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex)
Senior author's track record	1 / 4	Last-listed author Young S. Oh: h-index 19 (OpenAlex, whole career)
Institution's track record	3 / 3	University of Washington: institution h-index 3,540 (OpenAlex)
Multi-centre collaboration	3 / 3	OpenAlex lists 25 institution(s) in 5 countries
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 39039178)
Free to read	0 / 2	Behind a paywall — scores zero
Total	56 / 100	—

What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →

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