Meanwhile, diabetic retinopathy - the most common form
of diabetic eye disease — affects between 40 and 50 per cent of patients with diabetes and is a leading cause of blindness in the Western world.
Although further research is needed, the new results show that that remote screening — and specifically the detection of hard exudates in nondilated eye photographs — can accurately identify patients
with diabetic eye disease.
Ninety per cent of cases of sight loss could have been avoided
if diabetic eye disease had been identified early enough and treated appropriately.
«Only about half of all people with diabetes get an annual comprehensive dilated eye exam, which is essential for
detecting diabetic eye disease early, when it is most treatable,» said NEI Director Paul A. Sieving, M.D., Ph.D..
The most
common diabetic eye disease and a leading cause of blindness is diabetic retinopathy, which is caused by elevated blood sugar levels damaging the blood vessels of the retina and affects approximately 7.7 million Americans.
Study findings indicate that among older adults who had diabetes for a shorter duration (9 years or less), nonfatal cardiovascular complications had the highest incidence (coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, and cerebrovascular disease), followed
by diabetic eye disease and acute hypoglycemic events.
An Internet - based screening approach performs well in identifying patients with
treatable diabetic eye disease, according to a study in Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry.
If these results are confirmed in a larger trial, they will help to change
how diabetic eye disease is evaluated and treated, says Paolo Silva, M.D., staff ophthalmologist and assistant chief of telemedicine at Joslin's Beetham Eye Institute.
Within a few months, patients returned to the clinic for specialist examination, including dilation of the pupil and stereo views of the interior of the eye — the standard test
for diabetic eye disease.
Over half of all ethnic groups (i.e., Hispanic, non-Hispanic white, African American, and Asian American) surveyed had heard of cataracts and glaucoma but fewer knew
about diabetic eye disease and aging macular degeneration.
«Finding a way to control angiogenesis not only provides a target for the development of anti-cancer therapies, but may also prove useful in similarly starving abnormal blood vessel growth elsewhere in the body, like
in diabetic eye disease.»
Dr Schneck and coauthors add, «The most common age - related eye diseases (glaucoma, age - related macular degeneration, and
diabetic eye disease) all produce blue - yellow color vision anomalies, at least in the preclinical or early stages.»
«This is only the second such report on cataract incidence in the UK's diabetic patients since the 1980s and it further emphasises the importance of the NHS Diabetic Eye Screening programme in early identification and treatment of
diabetic eye disease to prevent sight loss.
During his career, Dr. Aiello has received numerous awards, including sharing the 2014 Antonio Champalimaud Vision Award with Dr. George L. King at Joslin for their contributions toward the discovery of treatments inhibiting vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) for
diabetic eye disease.
CCTD is also planning stem cell - based research for
diabetic eye disease, for which a variety of stem cell - based therapies have been evaluated in clinical trials.
It has also been applied in treatment of sexual performance problems and has been tried for
diabetic eye diseases and glaucoma, among other eye problems.