Published: 30 November 2021 at 15:32
Find out about research published by the Vision and Eye Research Institute (VERI) in November 2021.
Pardhan et al. (1) compared self-management of diabetes pre-COVID-19 and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Multiple regression analysis found that self-isolation was significantly associated with greater fluctuation in blood glucose levels, reduced access to medicine and reduced access to healthy diet. They showed that people with diabetes who are required to self-isolate are at a higher odds of poor diabetes self-management and uncontrolled diabetes, and need more informed self-management guidelines in order to enable better self-management.
The temporal change of diabetes and any associated risk and protective factors for diabetes in Chinese adults between Wave 0 (2003) and Wave 1 (2009) of the World Health Organization (WHO) Study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE) was analysed in Pardhan et al. (2). The overall prevalence of diabetes increased by 4.76 times between 2003 and 2009. In 2003, multivariate regression indicated that older age ≥60 years was the main risk factor, while in 2009 the odds ratio for older age decreased but included a significant association of obesity and excess weight.
Lindsay et al. (3) aimed to synthesise the recommendations for returning athletes who had experienced long COVID symptoms. They found a lack of evidence in the literature and suggested that further research, including longitudinal research of athletes who have tested positive for COVID-19, is required to develop evidence-based guidelines for athletes with ongoing COVID-19 symptoms.
The association between informal caregiving and anxiety among adults from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) was investigated in Smith et al. (4). They found that caregiving was positively associated with anxiety symptoms with a greater number of caregiving activities being associated with higher odds for anxiety symptoms dose-dependently. The authors suggested that interventions to address mental health of caregivers in LMICs are urgently needed.
Bacharach et al. (5) evaluated the intraocular pressure (IOP)-lowering efficacy and safety of 10 and 15 µg bimatoprost implant in patients with open-angle glaucoma (OAG) or ocular hypertension (OHT). The intracameral, sustained-release bimatoprost implant effectively lowered intraocular pressure in patients with open-angle glaucoma and ocular hypertension.
1. Pardhan, S., Islam, M. S., López-Sánchez, G. F., Upadhyaya, T., Sapkota, R .P., 2021. Self-isolation negatively impacts self-management of diabetes during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Diabetology & Metabolic Syndrome, 13 (1), pp. 123. doi: 10.1186/s13098-021-00734-4
2. Pardhan, S., Zheng, D., Chen, Z., López Sánchez, G. F., 2021. Obesity needs to be addressed to tackle the increased prevalence of diabetes in China – Temporal changes from 2003 to 2009. Preventive Medicine Reports, 24, pp. 101625. doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2021.101625
3. Lindsay, R. K., Wilson, J. J., Trott, M., Olanrewaju, O., Tully, M. A., López-Sánchez, G. F., Shin, J. I., Pizzol, D., Allen, P., Butler, L. T., Barnett, Y., Smith, L., 2021. What are the recommendations for returning athletes who have experienced long term COVID-19 symptoms? Annals of Medicine, 53(1), pp. 1935-1944. doi: 10.1080/07853890.2021.1992496
4. Smith, L., Shin, J. I., Oh, H., López Sánchez, G. F., Underwood, B., Jacob, L., Veronese, N., Soysal, P., Butler, L., Barnett, Y., Tully, M. A., Koyanagi, A., 2021. Anxiety symptoms among informal caregivers in 47 low- and middle-income countries: a cross-sectional analysis of community-based surveys. Journal of Affective Disorders. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2021.11.029
5. Bacharach, J., Tatham, A., Ferguson, G., Belalcázar, S., Thieme, H., Goodkin, M. L., et al. (Bourne, R.), 2021. Phase 3, Randomized, 20-Month Study of the Efficacy and Safety of Bimatoprost Implant in Patients with Open-Angle Glaucoma and Ocular Hypertension (ARTEMIS 2). Drugs. doi: 10.1007/s40265-021-01624-9