Mortality prediction of retinal vessel diameters and function in a long-term follow-up of hemodialysis patients.

Retinal vessel phenotyping has the potential to improve risk stratification of overall cardiovascular risk. Especially, retinal microvascular function improves stratification of disease severity compared to traditional risk assessment in multimorbid patients. Blunted retinal microvascular function is independently associated with higher 5-year mortality rates and higher incidence of infection-related deaths. Retinal vessel analysis as add-on to standard of care has the potential to optimize personalized clinical decision-making and may help guide treatment strategies in the future.