A 20-year study of women in the Nurses' Health Study has shown that Type 2 diabetes is associated with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), the most common form of glaucoma//, accounting for about 60 to 70% of all glaucomas. The study is published in the July issue of the journal Ophthalmology.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School observed 76,3128 women who were enrolled in the Nurses' Health Study from 1980 to 2000. Eligible participants were at least 40 years old, did not have POAG at the beginning of the study, and reported receiving eye exams during follow-up. After controlling for age, race, hypertension, body mass index, physical activity, alcohol intake, smoking and family history of glaucoma, they found that type 2 diabetes was positively associated with POAG. However, the relation between type 2 diabetes and POAG did not increase with longer durations of type 2 diabetes.

"The study supports the notion that type 2 diabetes is associated with an increased risk of glaucoma," said Louis Pasquale, M.D., lead author of the study and co-director of the Glaucoma Service at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (MEEI) and an Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. "While obesity fuels the type 2 diabetes epidemic, it appears that factors unrelated to obesity contribute to the positive association between type 2 diabetes and glaucoma. We were surprised to find this. Our study had a large enough sample to allow us to focus on type 2 diabetes only and to study its relation to newly diagnosed POAG cases. We were also able to correct for other factors that could contribute to glaucoma. Our work suggests, but in now way proves, that factors other than lifestyle behavior contributing to insulin resistance could lead to elevated intraocular pressure and glaucoma."

According to the National Eye Institute, P
'"/>




Page: 1 2
Related medicine news :

1. Is Diabetes the Leading Cause of Kidney Failure in India
2. Diabetes and Depression often go hand-in-hand
3. Thirty minutes of work up per day reduces the risk of Diabetes
4. Diabetes on the rise
5. Irregular Periods Linked to Diabetes
6. Cinnamon combats Diabetes
7. Good News For Women With Gestational Diabetes
8. Processed Meat, Diabetes connection Found
9. Pancreatic Cancer may be linked to Diabetes
10. Gestational Diabetes linked to Chromosomal defici
11. A way to slow the progression of Type 1 Diabetes