According to a new study out of the Jules Stein Eye Institute finds the use of rosiglitazone may reduce the advancing of eye disease in patients with Diabetes.
The researchers found that patients who took the drug were less apt to contract proliferative diabetic retinopathy or to suffer from a reduction in visual sharpness. Researchers are not advising doctors or patients to adopt the use of the drug for eye disease purposes until further research can be completed.
Proliferative diabetic retinopathy is characterized by a blockage in the retinal
Blood vessels, this blockage causes the formulation of tiny blood vessels throughout the eye. Proliferative diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause for severe vision loss in adults throughout the United States.
The study followed nearly 125 diabetic patients taking rosiglitazone, as well as nearly 160 patients who did not take the drug. At the start of the study, 6.4% of the medicated group as well as 9.4% of the control group suffered from the precursor disease to proliferative diabetic retinopathy.
Over the 1 year period nearly 8% of the medicated group were diagnosed with proliferative diabetic retinopathy compared to nearly 30% of the control group. Extending out to 3 years, the numbers were even more astounding with just about 20% of the medicated group progressing to proliferative diabetic retinopathy and more than 45% of the control group.
Over the entire 3 year span of the study, researchers found an overall reduction of nearly 60% in the cases of proliferative diabetic retinopathy between the two groups.
Visual sharpness among the two groups was also measured. The medicated group suffered from loss of sharpness in less than 1% of all participants. The control group, however, showed a loss of visual sharpness in nearly 15% of the patients.
