Keeping a watchful eye out for a major risk factor for blindness

It turns out that the French don’t just produce good wine. A just released study published in the Archives of Ophthalmology of 700 diabetic men and women in Western France shows that the risk of retinopathy in diabetic patients is directly related to their glycemic levels. Retinopathy in diabetics is one of the leading causes of visual impairment in adults of middle-age and older. The degree of glucose control in the diabetic population was monitored using both fasting blood sugar and glycated hemoglobin levels.

ACSH's Dr. Gilbert Ross notes that the study’s conclusions are strengthened by evidence of a dose-response relationship: the higher the glycemic levels, the larger the risk of retinopathy. Dr. Ross comments, “As we have increasingly good tests for determining the success of glycemic control, this is important information. Now we need to do further studies to find out if lowering glycemic levels reduces the risk of retinopathy.”