Diabetes is a metabolic disease characterized by hyperglycemia and is caused by defects in the secretion or function of insulin. Diabetic retinopathy, a diabetes complication caused by damage to microvessels, is a leading cause of impaired vision and blindness in adults. The effective management of hypertension with the adequate use of a blood pressure depressor agent is known to reduce the risk of developing diabetic retinopathy. Of the available hypertension medications, those that belong to the renin-angiotensin system inhibitors (RAS inhibitor) group, including angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) and angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB), are known to have superior efficacy in the prevention and management of diabetic retinopathy. For this reason, these medications are recommended as first-line drugs for patients with diabetes that is accompanied by hypertension.

The present study examined the current use of antihypertensive medications among patients with diabetes in Korea to determine the efficacy of RAS inhibitors (recommended as first-line drugs for hypertension) in the prevention of retinopathy and other eye diseases caused by diabetes. For this purpose, we compared the rates of retinopathy or other eye diseases caused by diabetes between two groups of patients who developed hypertension following a recent diagnosis of type 2 diabetes: a group of patients who were prescribed RAS inhibitors and a group of patients who were prescribed other anti-hypertensive drugs.