TRANSITIONS OPTICAL’S NEWEST CLINICAL PAPER EXPLORES HIGHER
RATE OF DIABETIC EYE DISEASE AMONG SPECIFIC POPULATIONS

Complements Recent Clinical Paper About the Vision Care
and Vision Wear Needs of Patients with Diabetes
PINELLAS PARK, Fla., Feb. 4, 2009 – Enhancing its recently released education series on the special eyecare and eyewear needs of patients with diabetes, Transitions Optical, Inc. has unveiled its next clinical paper, which provides insights into the higher prevalence – and often severity – of diabetic retinopathy and other diabetes-related eye diseases among minority populations, including African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans. Healthy Sight Counseling Diabetes and the Eye: Special Populations serves as a supplement to the clinical paper, Healthy Sight Counseling: Diabetes and the Eye, and discusses strategies and tools both to treat diabetic retinopathy and to help protect the at-risk eye in specific populations of diabetes patients.

“Since Transitions Optical’s recent consumer research has revealed that people with diabetes have an alarming lack of awareness of the potential implications of diabetes on healthy sight, it is even more unsettling that there are certain groups who are at higher risk of both diabetes and its ocular side effects, where education needs are probably even greater,” said Bette Zaret, senior vice president, global marketing, Transitions. “This paper will give visibility to some of the most current studies that analyze the link between the prevalence and severity of some diabetes-related eye diseases, such as diabetic retinopathy, in certain populations.”

The paper is authored by Bruce Bode, M.D., F.A.C.E.; Raphael Castillo, M.D.; Hector Santiago, O.D., Ph.D., F.A.A.O.; Susan Stenson, M.D., F.A.C.S.; George C. Woo, O.D., Ph.D., F.A.A.O.; and Vincent Young, M.D.

As the clinical paper explains, numerous research studies reveal a higher incidence of diabetes among African-Americans, American Indians, some Asian-Americans, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islander-Americans, as well as Hispanic-Americans. In fact, research suggests that both African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans are nearly twice as likely to have diabetes as white Americans of the same age. Since nearly every patient with diabetes will experience at least some level of diabetic retinopathy, this research implies there is a higher prevalence of diabetic retinopathy among many of these specific populations. Plus, recent research suggests ethnicity-based discrepancies in the severity of diabetic retinopathy.

“I have witnessed first-hand the low awareness many patients with diabetes have about the impact of diabetes can make on their eye health,” Bode said. “It is critical that the entire healthcare team of a patient with diabetes should be aware of the role that eye care and eyewear can play in helping these patients see their best in their current condition, and also prevent future damage.”

Risk Factors and Steps to Protect Vision
Healthy Sight Counseling Diabetes and the Eye: Special Populations also explores several risk factors that may explain the disproportionate prevalence of diabetes among certain populations, including genetics, socioeconomics and lifestyle differences such as diet and smoking.

Using Healthy Sight Counseling, which emphasizes the importance of maintenance and preventive eye care and increased professional and patient awareness, the clinical paper examines the need for eyecare professionals to educate their patients with diabetes about their greater risk for ocular diseases. Additionally, it recommends the use of ultraviolet (UV) blocking photochromic or fixed tint lenses combined with anti-reflective coatings to help protect against harmful UV radiation and vision-impairing glare.

Diabetes Education Series
The new clinical paper supplements the first paper in the series entitled Healthy Sight Counseling: Diabetes and the Eye, which introduced research on the impact of diabetes on the eye, potentially leading to several debilitating eye diseases – including diabetic retinopathy, cataracts and age-related macular degeneration – as well as the susceptibility of diabetic eyes to heightened damage from UV light. Healthy Sight Counseling: Diabetes and the Eye also notes that diabetes and related ocular complications have been associated with reductions in contrast sensitivity and increased sensitivity to glare, leading to reduced visual quality.

Both papers in the diabetes series have been accepted by the Healthy Sight Institute and will be housed at HealthySightInstitute.org. Several public education tools are also available for download from the site – including six posters that focus on the issue of diabetes and the eye, and several other materials related to issues of UV and glare protection, and other factors important for promoting healthy sight.

Print copies of the diabetes papers are available through Transitions Optical Customer Service at (800) 848-1506. Select educational posters and a patient brochure are available for download at Transitions.com/diabetes.