Living with diabetes for at least a decade increases chance of eye disorders, vision loss

About a third of adults over the age of 45 with diabetes have cataracts, according to new CDC data. Eye disorders, and vision loss from these disorders, is more common in adults with diabetes, and scientists found that these disorders were more common in those who had been living with diabetes for a decade or more. For instance, three times as many people who had diabetes for 10 years or longer had diabetic retinopathy compared to those who were more recently diagnosed. The percentage of people who lost their vision due to diabetes-induced glaucoma — albeit only around 3% — was also nearly twice as high in those who had the disease for a decade or longer. Researchers also observed a similar trend when it came to other disorders, including macular degeneration.