From the Los Angeles Times, this article posits that the rate of diabetic retinopathy and vision impairment has fallen – sounds great except that the percentage point decline is double digit. The article also indicates that no distinction was made between Type 1s and 2s.
If you’ve run across related articles or the research this article was based upon, it’d be great to see it here.
It’s a good trend. I can’t imagine that there’s a lot of difference between diabetic background retinopathy in T1s and T2s. Since many eye doctors are catching the signs of diabetes in eye exams, I bet a lot of T2s are discovered that way. After the findings of DCCCT, it is good to know that people are listening and making the effort. One of my only complications has been retinopathy. Once I got myself in hand, I was able to keep any further damage from happening. That tight control thing does seem to work. A double digit drop is pretty phenomenal. What good news!
The previous study was often summarized to me by my eye docs as “All T1 diabetics have retinopathy by 20 years after diagnosis”. Really, that’s what they said, ALL. Google “The Wisconsin Epidemiologic Study of Diabetic Retinopathy”
But that was a study done in the late 70’s, on T1’s who were diagnosed in the 1950’s. None had ever had the benefits and tools we have of home bg testing, doses adjusted for carb counting, etc. You would not have believed how primitive things were when I was diagnosed - there was no such thing as home bg testing, lab bg testing was done at most a few times a year. Very shortly afterward for me (in the early 80’s) home bg testing came along and it was like I had gone from stone knives and bearskins, to jetpants!