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Eyes a Window Into Brain Health: Study
Posted 15 Mar 2012 by Drugs.com
THURSDAY, March 15 – People who have mild vascular disease that damages the eyes' retinas are more likely to have vascular disease in the brain that causes thinking and memory problems, new research indicates. The study included 511 women with an average age of 69 whose thinking and memory skills were tested every year for 10 years. The women's eyes were tested about four years into the study, and they underwent brain scans about eight years into the study. On average, the 39 women with retina damage (retinopathy) had lower scores on the cognitive tests than those without retinopathy. The eye damage in these women was not serious enough to cause significant symptoms. The brains of women with retinopathy also had more areas with damaged blood vessels than those without retinopathy. The findings held true even after the researchers accounted for high blood pressure and diabetes, which ... Read more
Related support groups: Cerebral Vascular Disorder, Diabetic Retinopathy, Hypertensive Retinopathy, Retinopathy Prophylaxis
Fewer Diabetic Vision Problems Reported: CDC
Posted 17 Nov 2011 by Drugs.com
THURSDAY, Nov. 17 – People with diabetes are reporting fewer vision problems, a new U.S. government report shows. Since 1997 the percentage of diabetics reporting vision problems dropped from 26 percent to 18.6 percent, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found. "Our findings are consistent with other findings," said lead researcher Nilka Borrows, a CDC epidemiologist. "There is better blood glucose control, blood pressure control and cholesterol control in people with diabetes." So, part of the reason for this finding is better management of diabetes, Borrows said, adding that aging had little or no effect on the trend for fewer vision problems. Dr. Minisha Sood, an endocrinologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, said that this decline in reported vision problems among diabetics "is encouraging, but there may be a false sense of reassurance here." ... Read more
Related support groups: Diabetic Retinopathy
Eye Disease Affects Nearly One in Three Diabetics
Posted 10 Aug 2010 by Drugs.com
TUESDAY, Aug. 10 – Almost one in three people with diabetes has evidence of the eye disease called diabetic retinopathy, according to new research. What's more, over 4 percent of people with diabetes have diabetic retinopathy that's so advanced it's threatening their vision, reports the study published in the Aug. 11 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. "This was a national population-based study and we found that among Americans with diabetes who were age 40 and older, that 28.5 percent – or 4.2 million people – have diabetic retinopathy. And, 4.4 percent had vision-threatening diabetic retinopathy," said the study's lead author, Dr. Xinzhi Zhang, an epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The news wasn't all bad, however. The study findings suggest that good control of blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol can ... Read more
Related support groups: Diabetic Retinopathy
Red Wine Compound Could Point to Treatment for Eye Diseases
Posted 26 Jun 2010 by Drugs.com
FRIDAY, June 25 – A compound found in red wine and grapes inhibits the growth of new blood vessels (angiogenesis) associated with eye diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, researchers have found. Resveratrol, which is produced by a variety of plants to fight bacterial and fungal infections, is found in particularly high levels in grape skin and at lower levels in blueberries, peanuts and other plant-based foods. Previous research has shown that resveratrol can decrease the effects of aging and act as an anti-cancer agent. In this new study, researchers found that resveratrol inhibits harmful blood vessel growth in the eye. They also identified the specific pathway through which the compound achieves this effect and found that specific inhibitors could reverse the angiogenesis-blocking power of resveratrol. The study appears in the July issue of ... Read more
Related support groups: Macular Degeneration, Diabetic Retinopathy
Drug a New Treatment Option for Diabetic Eye Disease
Posted 29 Apr 2010 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, April 28 – A new drug may be the first new treatment in 25 years for a common diabetes-linked eye condition called diabetic macular edema (DME), researchers report. Lucentis (ranibizumab) was originally developed to treat age-related macular degeneration. But researchers say it can also improve vision in people with DME, a common form of diabetic retinopathy. The study of 691 patients with DME found that 50 percent of those who received Lucentis eye injections, plus laser treatment if necessary, had substantial improvement in vision one year after treatment, compared with 28 percent of patients who received laser treatment alone. Results were similar after two years. For 25 years, laser treatment has been the standard of care for DME, the main cause of vision loss in people with diabetes. The study, published online in the journal Ophthalmology, was conducted by the Diabetic ... Read more
Related support groups: Lucentis, Diabetic Retinopathy, Ranibizumab
Drug-Laser Combination Proves Effective For Diabetic Blindness
Posted 28 Apr 2010 by Drugs.com
Drug-Laser Combination Proves Effective For Diabetic blindness [Los Angeles Times] From Los Angeles Times (CA) (April 28, 2010) Apr. 28--For the first time in a quarter of a century, researchers have identified a new treatment for diabetic macular edema, a potentially blinding disorder that affects about 1 million Americans, researchers said Tuesday. The treatment uses a drug called ranibizumab, which when administered in combination with laser phototherapy is twice as effective at reversing vision loss as laser therapy alone. Laser therapy to prevent leakage of blood vessels in the retina has been the gold standard since it was introduced in 1985. The findings were reported online in the journal Ophthalmology. Nearly 50% of those who received both the drug and phototherapy had a visual improvement of at least two lines on an eye chart, compared with 28% of those receiving only ... Read more
Related support groups: Lucentis, Macular Edema, Diabetic Retinopathy, Ranibizumab
Blood Pressure Drugs Might Fight Diabetic Retinopathy
Posted 8 Jan 2010 by Drugs.com
FRIDAY, Jan. 8 – New research in mice suggests that some drugs used to treat high blood pressure might help prevent and treat a disorder that causes people with diabetes to lose their vision. The researchers tested candesartan (Atacand), a drug known as an angiotensin receptor blocker, on mice to see what would happen to 65 proteins in the retina that appear to be linked to diabetes. They found that the drug prevented more than 70 percent of the proteins from having abnormal changes. The findings, which come in the largest study of its kind, could spell hope for people who suffer from diabetic retinopathy or are at risk for it. The disorder damages blood vessels in the retina. Previous research had suggested that high-blood pressure drugs – also including ACE inhibitors – might help. The study findings were published in the Journal of Proteome Research. More information The U.S. ... Read more
Related support groups: Atacand, Candesartan, Diabetic Retinopathy
Laser Deemed Best Treatment for Diabetic Retinopathy
Posted 2 Jan 2010 by Drugs.com
THURSDAY, Dec. 31 – Steroid injections into the eye slowed diabetes-related eye disease, though lasers remain the treatment of choice because of side effects related to the steroids, new research shows. Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute gave 693 men and women who had diabetic retinopathy with macular edema either injections of a corticosteroid into their eyes as often as every four months or a laser photocoagulation, the standard treatment. The average age of the participants was 63. Retinopathy is a long-term complication of diabetes that can lead to blindness. Macular edema, which can further interfere with vision, is a swelling of the central portion of the retina caused by fluid leakage. Over time, retinopathy can advance to proliferative diabetic retinopathy, in which abnormal blood vessels grow on the optic nerve in the back of the eye, which communicates ... Read more
Related support groups: Diabetic Retinopathy
Steroid Shots Tested to Treat Diabetes-Related Eye Disease
Posted 17 Dec 2009 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 16 – Injecting steroids into the eye may slow the progression of diabetes-related eye disease, but should not be counted on as a treatment at this time, researchers say. Diabetic retinopathy, which can cause vision loss and blindness, occurs when new blood vessels form in the retina. The condition affects about 700,000 Americans, and 63,000 new cases develop each year, according to background information provided in the study. Control of blood glucose levels can help prevent the disease, and laser treatments can help lower the risk of vision loss, but researchers continue to search for new treatments. In the new study, researchers tested different therapies on 840 eyes of 693 patients with macular edema, a leakage of fluid into part of the retina, which often occurs in retinopathy. The eyes received one of three treatments: photocoagulation – a laser treatment that ... Read more
Related support groups: Diabetic Retinopathy, Triesence, Trivaris, Retinopathy Prophylaxis
Drugs May Not Slow Kidney Damage in Diabetes
Posted 1 Jul 2009 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, July 1 – Results from a new trial have dashed hopes that early use of two blood pressure drugs could slow the loss of kidney function caused by type 1 diabetes. But the study, reported in the July 2 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, does find benefits for the drugs against diabetes-caused eye damage. Type 1 diabetes, the less common form of the disease, results from the body's failure to produce insulin and usually is diagnosed early in life. The two drugs in the trial, enalapril (Vasotec) and losartan (Hyzaar), are commonly prescribed to slow the kidney damage caused by the disease, said Dr. Michael Mauer, a professor of pediatrics and medicine at the University of Minnesota and lead author of the study. "They are widely used at later stages of the disease, when it is well established," Mauer said. "Some physicians have been willing to extrapolate to treat at ... Read more
Related support groups: Cozaar, Vasotec, Diabetic Retinopathy
Drug May Not Help Diabetes-Related Eye Damage
Posted 16 Apr 2009 by Drugs.com
THURSDAY, April 16 – The drug calcium dobesilate does not prevent the development of blindness-causing macular edema in people with diabetes who have mild-to-moderate diabetic retinopathy, a new study has found. About 50 percent of people who have type 1 diabetes and 30 percent of those with type 2 diabetes develop retinopathy, which is damage to the retina caused by diabetes-related complications. Clinically significant macular edema (CSME) occurs when diabetic retinopathy progresses. When this happens, fluid and protein deposits accumulate near or at the macula, the central area of the retina, causing it to thicken and swell, according to background information in a news release from The Lancet. The results of the study are in this week's issue of the journal. The multi-center study included 635 people with type 2 diabetes and mild-to-moderate diabetic retinopathy who were randomly ... Read more
Related support groups: Diabetic Retinopathy
Drug Fights Diabetic Eye Disease
Posted 25 Sep 2008 by Drugs.com
THURSDAY, Sept. 25 – New studies published this week in the The Lancet provide further evidence that candesartan, a blood pressure medicine, can cut the risk and severity of retinopathy in people who have diabetes. "We suggest that clinicians may wish to consider using candesartan [brand name Atacand] in people with type 1 diabetes with hard-to-control blood glucose, who do not currently have retinopathy," said one study's British co-author, Dr. Nish Chaturvedi, of the National Heart and Lung Institute and Imperial College at St Mary's, London. "In type 2 diabetes, in people with established retinopathy who become hypertensive, again the clinician may wish to consider candesartan from the many blood pressure-lowering agents available, as it appears to have this additional beneficial effect on regression of retinopathy." About 95 percent of diabetics suffer from type 2 diabetes, where ... Read more
Related support groups: Atacand, Atacand HCT, Diabetic Retinopathy
Painkiller May Prevent Diabetes-Related Retinal Damage
Posted 24 Sep 2008 by Drugs.com
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 24 – The painkiller pentazocine may help prevent diabetes-related retinal damage that leads to vision loss, according to Medical College of Georgia researchers. "The effects of this drug on retinal health are phenomenal," Dr. Sylvia Smith, a retinal cell biologist and co-director of the Vision Discovery Institute at MCG's School of Medicine, said in a college news release. For the study, she compared the retinas of diabetic mice treated with pentazocine and those that didn't receive the drug and found dramatic differences. The findings suggest that the drug and related compounds that bind with the sigma receptor in the eye may help treat the two leading causes of vision loss – diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. The study was published in the September issue of the journal Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science. Pentazocine's binding with sigma receptors didn't ... Read more
Related support groups: Diabetic Retinopathy
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Related Condition Support Groups
Retinopathy Prophylaxis, Diabetes Mellitus