Why routine eye scans are important for older adults

New York, Jan 6 : Routine eye imaging can identify changes in the retina that may be associated with cognitive disorders in older people with Type-1 diabetes, researchers say.
According to them, people with diabetes are more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease and other cognitive disorders than are people without diabetes.
These results may open up a relatively easy method for early detection of cognitive decline in this population, providing a better ways to understand, diagnose and ultimately treat the decline, the researchers said.
“Since we knew there were cellular changes in the retina that might reflect changes in the brain, we were interested to see whether imaging techniques that visualize those changes in the retina might be reflective of changes in cognitive functions,” said lead author Ward Fickweiler, MD, at Joslin Diabetes Center in the US.
For the study, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, the researchers involved 129 participants.
The team drew on eye scans routinely gathered from patients as a part of normal vision care.