Diabetics who suffer from untreated depression are at increased risk for diabetic retinopathy, which damages the eye's retina and leads to blindness, according to a report in General Hospital Psychiatry.
Over the five-year follow-up period, 22.9 percent of patients whose scores on an assessment exam indicated "major depression" developed diabetic retinopathy, compared with 19.7 percent of the patients without depression.
A five-point increase on the assessment exam raised patients' risk of having diabetic retinopathy by up to 15 percent.
Read the General Hospital Psychiatry report linking depression to diabetic retinopathy.
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