Severe obstructive sleep apnea can put patients at a two to three times higher risk for developing retinopathy, reports Healio.

Once patients cross an obstructive sleep apnea severity threshold, they become more at risk for developing significant diabetic eye diseases, according to a study.

Patients with no signs of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) to moderate OSA were not at an increased risk for diabetic retinopathy (DR), proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) or diabetic macular edema (DME). However, patients with severe OSA had a two to three times higher risk for developing the diabetic eye diseases, study co-author Albert Y. Wu, MD, PhD, FACS, of Stanford University School of Medicine, told Ocular Surgery News.