Diabetic Retinopathy is an eye complication that many people suffer from. It often leads to vision loss, if not treated on time. In the early stage of the disease, it can be controlled by taking precautionary measures and keeping the blood sugar level in control. Whereas at an advanced stage, it might require surgical treatments and medications. To provide another cure to this life-changing illness, a new study suggests that the use of antiplatelet/anticoagulant (APAC) therapy can prevent the progression of Diabetic Retinopathy.
A study published in BMC Ophthalmology aimed to investigate whether the APAC method can be a useful way to prevent Diabetic Retinopathy in patients with type 2 diabetes. The study was conducted to find the solution for various stages of the disease such as nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR), proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) and diabetic macular edema (DME).
The study which was conducted on 73,964 participants of 20 years or above found that diabetic patients who take medicines like aspirin or dipyridamole showed a lower risk of developing NPDR. However, in patients with PDR and DME, no significant changes were seen before and after consumption of APAC medicines.
Apart from aspirin, the results of the study also pointed out that if antiplatelet medications like clopidogrel, ticlopidine, and warfarin can be used in combination with aspirin, it can enhance protection against NPDR. The conclusion of the study states, “APAC medications have a protective effect against NPDR development. Diabetic patients benefit from a single use of aspirin or dipyridamole on prevention of NPDR.”
To conduct the study, researchers collected the information from patients using Longitudinal Health Insurance Database in Taiwan. Participants who had a history of diabetic retinopathy even before getting type 2 diabetes were excluded from the study. The study was conducted using sensitivity analysis. Researchers tried to analyse the usage of APAC therapy by considering the time-dependent covariate. Not just this, various other variables like age, sex, comorbidities, and medicines were accounted into a multi-variable table to get effective results.
