Can retinal screenings also detect other diseases?

This is why it’s a screening and not a confirmatory diagnosis- some of the changes in the retina may not be specific solely to Alzheimer’s disease. They may reflect neurodegeneration which could be an underlying signal for a host of neurodegenerative conditions. This is why if we see changes, we would then reference the patient to specialists for further testing. A current analogy is with optometrists, who are one of the principal clinicians that identify people in the early diabetic stages for diabetes before anyone else. But they don’t treat nor confirm the diagnosis of the diabetes; rather, they see evidence in the retina and then connect the patient to specialists.