Diabetic African Americans have increased risk of vision loss

New study findings show that African Americans with type one diabetes have a high risk of vision loss.

Dr. Monique S. Roy, lead investigator, of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark, stated that poor control over blood sugar levels is “a very powerful risk factor for losing vision.”

Dr. Roy and co-investigator, Dr. Joan Sunice, followed approximately 500 African Americans with tpe 1 diabetes over a period of 6 years to determine rate of vision loss and associated risk factors.

In addition to poor blood sugar control, older age, high protein levels in the urine, and diabetic retinopathy were all independent predictors of vision loss over 6 years.

Dr.Roy noted: “Since African Americans with diabetes as a whole have poor blood sugar control, a major effort to improve glucose control must be made by patients and physicians taking care of such patients..”

Information for this post was gathered form an article written by Joene Hendry for Reuters Health.