Diabetes: 6% of those affected develop serious vision problems | Health

About 6.5 million Brazilians – approximately 3% of the population – have serious vision problems. According to experts, a significant part of these cases have the same factor in common: diabetes.

In a survey released in 2021, the specialized journal Ophthalmology pointed out that 6% of individuals who have diabetes have a serious disease in the retina, such as diabetic retinoplasia or cataract.

Ophthalmologist and coordinator of the Department of Ocular Health of the Brazilian Society of Diabetes (SBD), Fernando Malerbi, warns that in 95% of cases, visual difficulties resulting from diabetes are preventable or treatable – for this, early diagnosis and good clinical control are necessary. of the disease, which is chronic.

“In this way, we seek to raise society’s awareness of the existence of visual problems whose damage can be prevented when detected early”, he says.

Rosane Kupfer, endocrinologist and board member of the Brazilian Society of Diabetes (SBD), also emphasizes attention to glycemic indices.

“For prevention and treatment to be possible, the main ally is early diagnosis associated with good control of diabetes over the years”, he says.

This month, health professionals promote the campaign ‘April Marrom’, which raises awareness of the need to prevent and combat blindness.

In 2019, the National Health Survey (PNAD) pointed out that 52% of the Brazilian population has a chronic disease, of which 12.3 million have diabetes.

** Daughter from the periphery who was born to tell stories. Denise Bonfim is a journalist and passionate about football. At iG, she writes about health, politics and everyday life.