Using artificial intelligence (AI) to compare genetic variation with the most detailed retinal thickness (RT) maps ever produced, an international team of researchers said they had found that retinal thinning was associated with many systemic disorders, including multiple sclerosis, type 2 diabetes and dementia.

Writing in Nature Communications, researchers in Australia, the US and the UK used AI to process the OCT measurements of 85,793 retinal-disease-free UK Biobank participants to produce an RT map of >29,000 points in the macula. They then examined associations between pixel-level RT and 863 diseases as defined by PheCodes (a strategy for defining phenotypes for research).

“Multiple sclerosis (MS) had the largest negative global effect, with retinal thinning observed in MS patients compared to controls and the strongest effects observed in the nasal perifoveal region closest to the optic disc,” they said. “Overall, we found retinal thinning to be associated with poorer health and increased burden of disease.”