A complication of diabetes is diabetic retinopathy, or more commonly known as the diabetic eye. When this complication arises in diabetic patients, it damages the blood vessels in the retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. It is the most common cause of vision loss among people living with diabetes and the leading cause of vision impairment among adults.
ACCORD, or the Action to Control Cardiovascular Risk in Diabetes, is a study with 1,310 participants. ACCORDION, is the follow-up study of ACCORD. The purpose of ACCORDION was to test three treatment strategies to decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease in people with type 2 diabetes. The strategies tested by ACCORDION were:
- Keeping blood sugar within normal levels
- Lowering blood pressure
- Lowering bad cholesterol and increasing good cholesterol
The results from ACCORDION suggest that lowering blood glucose can reduce the development of retinal complications in the late phases of type 2 diabetes and that short-term changes in blood sugar have an effect. These findings are more evidence that glycemic control has positive effects on blood vessels.
