Anticoagulant, antiplatelet medication may prevent diabetic retinopathy in type 2 diabetes patients: Study

Written By : Medha Baranwal |Medically Reviewed By : Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli Published On 2022-03-25T00:00:34+05:30 | Updated On 11 Oct 2023 3:24 PM IST

Taipei, Taiwan: Antiplatelet/anticoagulant (APAC) medications have a protective effect against the development of nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) in type 2 diabetes patients, a recent study has found. The authors wrote, "single-use of aspirin or dipyridamole may benefit diabetes patients for the prevention of nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy." The study appears in the journal BMC Ophthalmology.

Cheng-Li Lin, Management Office for Health Data, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, and colleagues conducted the study with an aim to investigate whether antiplatelet/anticoagulant therapy can protect patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus from the development or progression of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in a retrospective cohort study.

The study used Longitudinal Health Insurance Database in Taiwan. It included a total of 73,964 patients with type 2 diabetes older than 20 years old. Hazard ration (HR) of non-proliferative DR (NPDR), proliferative DR (PDR), and diabetic macular edema (DME) were analyzed with APAC usage as a time-dependent covariate. In a multivariable model, age sex, comorbidities, and medicines were further adjusted. Contributions of respective APAC were investigated with sensitivity analysis.

The study found the following:

· Compared with nonusers, APAC users had a lower cumulative incidence of NPDR, the overall incidence of NPDR (10.7 per 1000 person-years), and the risk of developing NPDR (adjusted HR = 0.78).

· No significant differences were observed between APAC users and nonusers in the risks of PDR or DME.

· Hypertension, diabetic nephropathy, and diabetic neuropathy were risk factors for NDPR development, while heart disease, cardiovascular disease, peripheral arterial occlusive disease, and statin usage were covariates decreasing NPDR development.

· Aspirin and Dipyridamole showed significant protection against NPDR development.

· Clopidogrel, Ticlopidine, and warfarin showed enhanced protection in combination with aspirin usage.

"APAC medications have a protective effect against the development of NPDR," wrote the authors. "Diabetes patients benefit from single-use of aspirin or dipyridamole on the prevention of NPDR."

Reference:

Jeng, CJ., Hsieh, YT., Lin, CL. et al. Effect of anticoagulant/antiplatelet therapy on the development and progression of diabetic retinopathy. BMC Ophthalmol 22, 127 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12886-022-02323-z

BMC Ophthalmologytype 2 diabetesdiabetic retinopathyanticoagulantantiplatelet

Source : BMC Ophthalmology

Medha Baranwal

MSc. Biotechnology

Medha Baranwal joined Medical Dialogues as an Editor in 2018 for Speciality Medical Dialogues. She covers several medical specialties including Cardiac Sciences, Dentistry, Diabetes and Endo, Diagnostics, ENT, Gastroenterology, Neurosciences, and Radiology. She has completed her Bachelors in Biomedical Sciences from DU and then pursued Masters in Biotechnology from Amity University. She has a working experience of 5 years in the field of medical research writing, scientific writing, content writing, and content management. She can be contacted at editorial@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751

Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli

Dr Kamal Kant Kohli-MBBS, DTCD- a chest specialist with more than 30 years of practice and a flair for writing clinical articles, Dr Kamal Kant Kohli joined Medical Dialogues as a Chief Editor of Medical News. Besides writing articles, as an editor, he proofreads and verifies all the medical content published on Medical Dialogues including those coming from journals, studies,medical conferences,guidelines etc. Email: drkohli@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751