Visual Impairment and Retinopathy in People With Normal Glucose Tolerance, Impaired Glucose Tolerance, and Newly Diagnosed NIDDM
- Ronald Klein, MD, MPH,
- Elizabeth L Barrett-Connor, MD,
- Barbara A Blunt, MPH and
- Deborah L Wingard, PhD
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of Wisconsin Madison Department of Epidemiology, University of California San Diego, San Diego, California
- Address correspondence and reprint requests to Ronald Klein, MD, MPH, Department of Ophthalmology, Clinical Science Center, 600 Highland Avenue, Madison, Wl 53792.
Abstract
Objective Prevalence rates of visual impairment and retinopathy were compared in 1992 people with normal glucose tolerance, impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), or newly diagnosed non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM).
Research Design and Methods Glucose tolerance status was based on an oral glucose tolerance test after exclusion of those with a history of diabetes and/or diabetes medication use in an upper middle-class community of older white adults in southern California between 1984 and 1987.
Results Although many sex-specific comparisons were made between glucose tolerance groups, only a few emerged as statistically significant. Among those, women with IGT had significantly higher age-adjusted rates of visual impairment (10.8%) than women with normal glucose tolerance (4.4%). Among men, those with IGT had significantly higher age-adjusted rates of visual impairment (7.9%) than men with newly diagnosed NIDDM (4.0%).
Conclusions Low frequencies of retinopathy were found in all three glucose tolerance groups.
- Received November 20, 1990.
- Accepted April 19, 1991.
- Copyright © 1991 by the American Diabetes Association
