The link between these problems is blood vessels. Changes in eye blood vessels are believed to reflect vessel damage occurring elsewhere in the body, Scot E. Moss, from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and colleagues note.

To further explore these issues, they analyzed data for nearly 1000 people with insulin-dependent diabetes. The patients had undergone eye examinations between 1980 and 1982 and were then followed for 20 years to determine amputation rates.

The new findings are reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

During the study period, 10 percent of patients required an amputation. Narrowing in the arteries of the eye was tied to an increased risk of having a lower extremity amputation. Patients with this finding were up to 3.5-times more likely to have an amputation than others.

The link between eye disease and amputation held true even after accounting for the patient's blood sugar levels and blood pressure, the authors note.

"It seems that all these complications of diabetes tend to go together in a package," Moss told Reuters Health. "If you see one complication, it seems to put the patient at risk for other complications."

Similar studies of patients with diabetes that doesn't require insulin have yet to be completed, he noted, so it impossible to draw conclusions for these "type 2"patients.

Source: Yahoo News: Reuters Health: Archives of Internal Medicine, November 10, 2003.