Fewer Eye Problems for Diabetics Reported November 9, 2004
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — People with type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure can ward off eye problems if they keep their blood pressure under better control. In a new study out of England, tight blood pressure control significantly lowered the risk of developing microaneurysms in the eye, which can ultimately lead to blindness. The researchers say many people with type 2 diabetes also have high blood pressure. About 32 percent of patients will develop hypertension by age 40, and by age 60, nearly half of all diabetics will also have high blood pressure. High blood pressure increases the risk for microaneurysms in the eye, which are characteristic of eye disorders like retinopathy. In this study, investigators randomly assigned about 1,150 patients with high blood pressure and diabetes to either a tightly controlled blood pressure group, which aimed to reduce blood pressure to less than 150/85 millimeters of mercury, or to a standard group, which aimed for a blood pressure of less than 180/105 millimeters of mercury. The patients were followed for 4.5 years. About 23 percent of those in the tightly controlled blood pressure group experienced five or more microaneurysms, compared to about 33 percent of those in the standard control group. Writing in an accompany editorial, fellow physician Ronald Klein, M.D., M.P.H., from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, urges doctors to take these results into account when treating their diabetic and hypertensive patients. “Ophthalmologists should tell their diabetic patients about the benefits of blood pressure control in reducing loss of vision from diabetic retinopathy,” he writes.
SOURCE: Archives of Ophthalmology, 2004;122:1631-1640
