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A new study from the States has reported that the number of people with impaired sight is increasing in line the with growing rates of diabetic patients.
The rates of so-called non-refractive vision impairment probably related but not yet proven to diabetes has made a twent per cent rise within a decade.
These are conditions including glaucoma, cataracts and retinopathy that are normally treated via laser surgery. They are generally more common in diabetic patients.
Data on just under twenty thousand adults from the National Health and Nutrition Examination survey was used. It was found that prevalence of non-refractive vision impairment increased from 1.4 per cent in 1999-2002 to 1.7 per cent in 2005-2008 (up 20 per cent). The number of subjects during that period who'd had diabetes for ten years or more rose by 22 per cent, from 2.8 per cent to 3.6 per cent.
Researchers reported that long-term diabetes was the only risk factor (the others being poverty, low education and older age) that increased in prevalence between the two time periods.
Diabetic patients screening for vision problems, ( as is current in the United Kingdom) is ultimately the key to preventing eye problems from developing or worsening. Frighteningly, only fifty per cent of diabetics in America have regular eye examinations.