Here’s a new reason for extra vigilance about retinal emboli.

As part of the Beaver Dam Eye Study, researchers determined the prevalence of retinal emboli in 4,926 people (ages 43 to 86) as they joined the study and then checked their health 5 years later to look for any possible relationship between the emboli and stroke or ischemic heart disease.

People with retinal emboli had 2.61 times the risk of stroke of those people without the emboli. Retinal emboli proved to be associated with higher pulse pressure, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, smoking history, cardiovascular disease and retinopathy.

"Data from this population-based study suggest that after discovery of retinal emboli in the asymptomatic patient, referral for possible medical intervention to control hypertension and treatment of other risk factors may be beneficial," say the authors of the study.