June 9, 2004.
Pakistan News Wire.
An aspirin a day keeps the cardiologist away - it's well known that aspirin helps prevent heart attack and strokes. But latest research also suggests that aspirin might - if taken early enough - help prevent diabetes-related blindness.
More than 20,000 people lose their sight every year due to retinopathy, a common complication of diabetes. Retinopathy is a disease that affects the blood vessels in the back of the eye, and is a leading cause of blindness in general.
Researchers at the Schepens Eye Research Institute at Harvard theorized that microscopic blood clots in the eye contribute to the development of retinopathy. Aspirin's ability to prevent clots might work just as well in the eye as it does in the heart.
But the study examined the eyes of dead patients, and other studies have shown that aspirin doesn't affect retinopathy in later stages. Researchers pointed out that patients with diabetes should talk to their doctors about taking aspirin to prevent heart attack and stroke .
The American Diabetes Association (ADA) recommends the use of aspirin in people with diabetes who have had strokes or cardiac events, or just to prevent those types of events.
So it's a good idea for people with diabetes to take a daily aspirin to prevent a stroke, heart attack or amputation.
The present study says that diabetics have a tendency to form blood clots in the small capillaries of the eye; other people have them, too, but it's more common in diabetics and they have more and larger clots. The authors suggest that aspirin might be helpful because of the presence of these clots.
Controlling your blood sugar is the proven way to prevent or delay retinopathy. There's evidence that controlling blood pressure can prevent it, too. So control your blood pressure and your blood glucose levels.
Pakistan News Service © PakTribune.com Pvt Ltd 2003-2004.
End of article.
Go to ...
Top of Page.
List of Categories.
Blind World Website
Designed and Maintained by:
All Rights Reserved.