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Background: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) may worsen during pregnancy, but its course in the postpartum remains poorly understood. Understanding the natural history of DR during and after pregnancy can help determine when sight‐threatening DR treatment should be administered. Methods: A prospective longitudinal cohort study recruited pregnant women with pre‐existing type 1 (T1D) or type 2 diabetes from two tertiary Diabetes Antenatal Clinics in Melbourne, Australia. Eye examination results in early pregnancy, late pregnancy, and up to 12‐months postpartum were compared to determine DR changes. Two‐field fundus photographs and optical coherence tomography scans were used to assess DR severity. Results: Overall, 105 (61.4%) women had at least two eye examinations during the observation period. Mean age was 33.5 years (range 19–51); 54 women (51.4%) had T1D; 63% had HbA1c <7% in early pregnancy. DR progression rate was 23.8% (95% CI 16.4–32.6). Having T1D (RR 4.96, 95% CI 1.83–13.46), pre‐existing DR in either eye (RR 4.54, 95% CI 2.39–8.61), and elevated systolic blood pressure (adjusted RR 2.49, 95% CI 1.10–5.66) were associated with increased risk of progression. Sight‐threatening progression was observed in 9.5% of women. Among the 19 eyes with progression during pregnancy, 15 eyes remained stable, three eyes progressed, and only one eye regressed in the postpartum. Conclusions: Nearly 1 in 4 women had DR progression from conception through to 12‐months postpartum; almost half of these developing sight‐threatening disease. DR progression occurring during pregnancy was found to predominantly remain unchanged, or worsen, after delivery, with very few eyes spontaneously improving postpartum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study which examined the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and weight and retinal vascular caliber in children in Singapore. Changes in retinal vascular caliber have been linked with obesity and metabolic syndrome in adults. Retinal arteriolar or venular caliber was not associated with height. It concluded that greater BMI and weight were associated with larger retinal venular caliber in healthy children.

Background: Despite decades of evidence from observational studies, the use of hormone therapy for the prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) among postmenopausal women is controversial. The recent completion of several randomised clinical trials examining the effects of hormone therapy on CVD presents an opportunity to provide a more precise estimate of the cardiovascular risks of hormone therapy., Objective: To summarise the effects of hormone therapy on CVD in postmenopausal women., Search Strategy: MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, DARE and CENTRAL were searched for clinical trials reporting mortality and/or CVD outcomes in association with hormone therapy. Bibliographies and editorials were also reviewed. All studies were reviewed and rated for quality independently by two reviewers., Selection Criteria: High quality, randomised placebo-controlled clinical trials of hormone therapy (duration greater than one year) in non-hospitalised postmenopausal women were included., Data Collection and Analysis: Summary relative risks were estimated for all-cause mortality, coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality, non-fatal acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and all stroke., Main Results: Seven randomised clinical trials met the inclusion criteria. The use of hormone therapy had no significant effect on all-cause mortality, non-fatal AMI or CHD mortality, with relative risks of 1.02 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.93-1.13], 1.00 (0.88-1.14) and 0.99 (0.82-1.21), respectively. For all stroke, the summary relative risk was 1.29 (1.13-1.48)., Author's Conclusions: This systematic review, incorporating the latest available trial data, shows that hormone therapy does not significantly change the risk of all-cause morality, CHD death or non-fatal AMI but increases the risk of stroke in postmenopausal women.