Aspirin May Aid in Diabetic Blindness

A new study strongly suggests aspirin may help diabetics reduce their risk of blindness.

The most common complication from diabetes is a form of eye damage called retinopathy, the leading cause of blindness in the United States for people ages 20 to 74. It results in 12,000 to 24,000 new cases of blindness every year.

Medical scientists at the Schepens Eye Research Institute in Boston recently confirmed microscopic blood clots cause retinopathy by clogging tiny blood vessels in the back of the eye and starving cells in the retina.

In particular, the investigators discovered diabetic patients had four times as many of these clots as patients without diabetes.

The researchers suggest daily doses of aspirin may help prevent clots in these blood vessels in retinopathy's early stages.

They add aggressive control of sugar levels for diabetics "is the first and best defense." The scientists reported their findings in the Journal Diabetes.