A Taiwanese study showed diabetics with severe sleep apnoea are at higher risk of treatment-resistant diabetic macular oedema.
The findings, presented at the 123rd Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), found that sleep apnoea may contribute to the development and worsening of diabetic retinopathy by increasing insulin resistance, elevating inflammation and raising blood pressure, all of which can damage the blood vessels at the back of the eye.
The data included all patients diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy over an eight-year period at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taiwan. Researchers found that the rate of severe sleep apnoea was significantly higher in patients with diabetic macular oedema compared with those without diabetic macular oedema (80.6% vs 45.5%). They also found that the worse their sleep apnoea was, the worse their macular oedema.
Severe sleep apnoea was also more prevalent in patients who needed more treatment to control their macular oedema. These patients required three or more treatments of medical or laser therapy.
“Based on these results, we hope that more medical professionals will approach sleep apnoea as a risk factor for diabetic macular oedema,” said lead researcher Dr Juifan Chiang. “This could allow for earlier medical intervention so patients can keep more of their vision and preserve their overall health as much as possible.”
