Aus study flags vision-threatening eye disease in diabetic pregnancies
Close follow-up is needed for women with diabetic retinopathy who develop macular oedema, researchers say
One in nine pregnant women with pregestational type 1 or type 2 diabetes have advanced diabetic retinopathy that threatens vision, according to the first Australian study of its kind in 40 years.
Among the prospectively-recruited cohort of women attending one of two Melbourne obstetric hospitals, one quarter had diabetic retinopathy, similar to the non-pregnant diabetic population.
But a particularly concerning finding was the high rate of diabetic macular oedema or proliferative diabetic retinopathy among the women, who had a mean diabetes duration of seven years, the researchers said.
“Nearly one in 9 pregnant women had [sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy (STDR)] and this rate persisted up to a year postpartum,” they wrote.
