$1.9 million fed grant goes to study blindness in blacks with diabetes - grant from the National Institutes of Health - Brief Article

Jet, Oct 25, 1993

A four-year landmark program supported by a $1.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health that will try to determine which Blacks with diabetes will develop blindness from the disease and how to prevent it has been launched at the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark.

The program, the first to probe blindness due to diabetic retinopathy among Blacks in the U.S., seeks to isolate specific risk factors associated with this condition. Researchers agree once these factors are identified, prevention and treatment can be developed. Diabetic retinopathy, a complication of diabetes, is caused by the deterioration of the blood vessels in the retina at the back of the eye.