Gut microbial communities differed in diabetic retinopathy, but diversity findings were uncertain
The review found differences in microbial communities, while pooled diversity measures showed no statistically clear differences between the comparison groups.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
People with diabetic retinopathy had different gut microbial communities, but pooled diversity measures did not clearly distinguish them from people with diabetes without retinopathy or from healthy controls. The findings describe patterns associated with diabetic eye disease; they do not establish that changing gut microbes would prevent or treat it.
Studies varied substantially, with demographic and methodological limitations. This abstract-based account cannot establish that microbial changes cause retinopathy or that proposed microbiome treatments improve eye outcomes.
What researchers found
Shannon gut microbial diversity
Retinopathy versus diabetes without retinopathy; timing unreported. Standardized mean differences use standard deviations, units based on how much scores vary. The near-zero estimate suggests little average difference; the interval allows higher or lower diversity.
Different ways to compare microbes
The review distinguished diversity within samples from differences in microbial community structure between groups. Communities differed in retinopathy, even though pooled within-sample diversity measures did not show a statistically clear difference.
Treatment remains untested here
The authors discuss diet, probiotics and fecal transplantation as possible research directions. The abstract provides no intervention results showing that these approaches improve vision or diabetic retinopathy.
The original publication
The gut-eye axis: microbiota and their role in diabetic retinopathy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Sadeghi R, Abdol Homayuni MR, Fateh A et al.
BMC Ophthalmol · 2026
- PubMed ID
- 41484843
- Record checked
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