Vision of the Future
A large new study presented at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting brought encouraging news for people living with diabetes: the most dangerous forms of diabetic eye disease are becoming much less common.
Researchers analyzed data from more than 4.2 million people with diabetes over a 20-year period and found major declines in vision-threatening diabetic retinal disease. Cases of proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) — a severe form that can lead to blindness — dropped by an impressive 70%, while diabetic macular edema (DME) decreased by 47%. Overall, vision-threatening diabetic retinopathy fell by 55%.
Key Findings
Experts believe these improvements are largely due to:
- better diabetes medications
- earlier detection
- increased screening efforts
Newer therapies appear to help delay or prevent damage to the eyes, even as more people are being diagnosed with diabetes overall.
The study also found that people are developing serious eye complications later in life than in the past, suggesting diabetes care is improving long-term outcomes.
Researchers noted that regular eye exams and better management of blood sugars, blood pressure, and overall health likely play a major role.
While the overall number of people with diabetic eye disease continues to rise because diabetes itself is becoming more common, researchers emphasized that we are doing a much better job of preventing blindness and severe vision loss than ever before.
The takeaway
Diabetes-related eye disease remains important to monitor, but advances in treatment and screening are making a real difference.
Staying up to date with yearly dilated eye exams and maintaining good glucose control remain some of the best ways to protect vision long term.
