Some good news for diabetics

A new study debunks the theory that the longer a person has been diabetic the more likely it is for serious eye disease is to develop. The study involved patients who have had Type I Diabetes for at least 50 years. Amazingly, many of these patients seem to be protected against proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). Most of these patients escape vision loss despite the fact that they've had diabetes for many years. 96 of 97 patients in the study developed PDR within the first twenty? years of having diabetes. The retinopathy advanced more slowly and sometimes stopped altogether if it didn't develop during the first twenty years. Glycemic control was not a factor in the development of PDR but high blood pressure was. In addition, lowered blood levels of the protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP-1 was found to offer protection from the development of? PDR. The findings of the study also indicate that protective mechanisms are activated early on in diabetes. Researchers hope that further scrutiny of the data retrieved from this study will help identify other factors that protect against retinopathy complications.*