Examine the eyes of diabetic retinopathy sufferers to check for brain damage. This is the goal of the Recognized multicenter study funded by the European Community as part of the Horizon 2020 research project aimed at evaluating the correlation between diabetic retinopathy in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, early cognitive impairment and dementia. The main European Centers of Excellence in clinical research on retinal diseases participate in the study.
Diabetes and visual complications
In Italy there are at least 4 million people with diabetes, with an increase of about 60% in the last twenty years and with 1 over 65 affected by the disease. One of the main complications is diabetic retinopathy, the leading cause of low vision and blindness in working age in industrialized countries, due to the development of damage to the small blood vessels in the retina over time. Diabetic retinopathy affects 54.6% of patients with type 1 diabetes and 30% of patients with type 2 diabetes.
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Diabetes and cognitive impairment
Since type 2 diabetes has been recognized as an independent risk factor for the development of cognitive impairment and dementia, early assessment of the events that, due to the disease, occur in the retina, which is easily accessible with current technologies, it could help identify, just as early, the cognitive impairment that triggers on the brain, in the development of dementia. It was on this basis that the Recognized study was launched. “Through the evaluation of the ocular fundus with state-of-the-art diagnostic methods – he explains Stela Vujosevic, specialist in retinal pathologies and scientific director of the project for the Irccs MultiMedica – it is possible to identify those parameters that are a signal of early damage to the brain and to evaluate, therefore, if there are the possibilities of new therapeutic targets. For this reason, we have started the recruitment of some candidates among patients over 65 with type 2 diabetes mellitus and the first signs of retinopathy “.
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The stages of the study
At the moment the IRCCS MultiMedica Retinal Service has started the first phase of the study and, until 30 September, will recruit patients who wish to be included in the clinical trial, subjecting them to a preliminary visit at the San Giuseppe Hospital in Milan. The clinical study will last 30 months and will involve, in an initial phase, a total of 70 patients, who will undergo an initial evaluation through in-depth, ophthalmic and blood chemistry tests. “Of these – adds Vujosevic – 25 will be selected which, due to specific characteristics, will be followed for 30 months with evaluations from both an ophthalmological and neurological imaging point of view. The goal – concludes the doctor – is to understand whether, through an in-depth evaluation of the retina with latest generation diagnostic tools, the risk of developing a cognitive deficit can be identified “.
How to participate
The results of the research could, on the one hand, pave the way for new therapies for the prevention of early dementia and, on the other, through the identification of specific biomarkers, favor a timely and non-invasive diagnosis of the disease, with all the advantages that this brings with it. People over 65 with type 2 diabetes mellitus who wish to participate in the study can book, with the referral of the general practitioner, a visit for diabetic retinopathy at the Retina Medica Service of the San Giuseppe Hospital in Milan or write an email to [email protected]. The recruitment phase will last at least until next September 30th.
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