[Nfbf-l] FW: Medical News] Treatment That SignificantlySlows Progression Of Eye Damage In Persons With Type1 Diabetes -

[elizabeth McNally]

Treatment That Significantly Slows Progression Of Eye Damage In Persons With
Type
1 Diabetes - University Of Minnesota
Article Date: 03 Jul 2009 - 0:00 PDT
University of Minnesota Medical School researcher Michael Mauer, M.D., has
found a treatment that significantly slows the progression of eye injury in
people with type 1 diabetes , a common complication caused by this disease.
By administering an antihypertensive, medication commonly prescribed to
treat high blood pressure, Mauer and colleagues were able to slow
progression of diabetic eye damage in more than 65 percent of participants
involved in the study.
Diabetes is the primary cause of acquired blindness in adults and accounts
for nearly half of all new cases of chronic kidney failure in the Unites
States each year, and people living with the disease often struggle with
these complications as it progresses.
Previous studies of people with type 1 diabetes who were already exhibiting
symptoms of vision and kidney function loss showed that these types of
antihypertensive medications slowed further function loss in the kidneys,
but often could not prevent kidney failure.
Mauer and colleagues were interested in testing whether or not they could
delay diabetic kidney injury in participants who had normal blood pressure
and had not yet shown signs of kidney disease at the beginning of the study.
Three groups of participants were observed over the course of five years. 
Two groups
were administered one of two antihypertensive medications, losartan or
enalapril, and the last group, a placebo. The results were unexpected, but
conclusive. 
Mauer's
study demonstrated that these drugs did not protect the participants' 
kidneys from
damage or from losing function. However, participants who were administered
either enalapril or losartan experienced a significant slowing of the
progression of diabetic eye injury, by 65 and 70 percent, respectively.
"The secondary results of this study showed that people taking these
antihypertensive medications experienced a substantially positive effect in
slowing diabetic eye injury,"
said Mauer, professor of pediatrics and medicine in the Medical School. 
"Although
neither medication delayed early kidney tissue injury or early loss of
kidney function, the advantage to a study with negative findings such as
this one is that physicians now know that this treatment is ineffective for
this purpose, and they can pursue other treatment options that may improve
their patients' outcomes."
Although the data does not support the use of these types of
antihypertensives to prevent kidney damage in people living with diabetes,
Mauer and colleagues find it reasonable for physicians to consider
prescribing these classes of medication to people with type 1 diabetes in
order to slow the onset and progression of diabetic eye disease. He notes,
though, that this also poses several other unanswered questions such as at
what age a person with diabetes should be prescribed this class of drug and
how long they should continue taking it.
Mauer's study "Renal and Retinal Effects of Enalapril and Losartan in Type 1
Diabetes"
is published in the July 2nd issue of
The New England Journal of Medicine.
 An editorial accompanies the article.
The study was supported by research grants from the National Institutes of
Health (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases),
Merck (in the United States), Merck Frosst (in Canada), and the Canadian
Institutes of Health Research.
Source:
Nick Hanson
University of Minnesota

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