New research suggests that adults with type 2 diabetes are at higher risk for vision loss if they have smoked or have had severe hypoglycemia.

“Smoking, severe hypoglycemia and higher urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio were independently associated with vision loss in community-dwelling people with type 2 diabetes. All are potentially modifiable risk factors,” Timothy Davis, DPhil, professor in the faculty of health and medical sciences and internal medicine at the University of Western Australia in Perth, Australia, and colleagues wrote.

“Smoking cessation strategies and optimal cardiometabolic risk factor management, including blood glucose-lowering regimens that minimize hypoglycemia, appear important in preventing the loss of vision associated with type 2 diabetes.”