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Blue Mountains Eye Study finds frequent retinopathy in older, non-diabetic population

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The risk of retinopathy development in a senior Australian population without diabetes was found to be 9.7%, according to a study presented at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting.

Sudha Cugati, MD, presented the 5-year follow-up data on a cohort of 1,725 non-diabetic participants in the Blue Mountains Eye Study regarding the development of retinopathy lesions. “Findings from this older population [age 49 years and greater] confirm that retinopathy lesions develop relatively frequently in older persons without diabetes,” Dr. Cugati told meeting attendees.

At 5-year follow-up, retinopathy lesions were evident in 10.6% of study participants. “This incidence was positively correlated with an increasing age,” Dr. Cugati noted.

Newly isolated microaneurysms were found in 3.6% of subjects, 5.5% of subjects developed hemorrhages, and 1.6% of participants developed multiple lesions. An increased risk of these symptoms was noted in women, patients with elevated glucose levels and stage 1 or 2 hypertension. Dr. Cugati said the differences associated with these variables were not statistically significant.