A retrospective study of correlation of risk factors with severity of diabetic retinopathy

Abstract

Introduction:Diabetes mellitus is increasing in our society, so are the complications of diabetes mellitus. Diabetic retinopathy is a common cause of preventable blindness. We have taken a total of 1053 diabetic patients in our tertiary centre and studied 302 patients of Diabetic retinopathy diagnosed in the Department of Ophthalmology as a cross-sectional institution-based descriptive study from April 2016 to May 2018 in our tertiary care centre.Materials and Methods:We studied 302 patients of diabetic retinopathy and graded them into five grades of retinopathy. The severity of retinopathy is correlated with age, sex, duration of diabetes mellitus, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, BMI, albuminuria, smoking status and alcohol consumption.Results:Among the 302 diabetic retinopathy patients, there is a male predominance among diabetics. Females outnumbered males in the diabetic retinopathy group. Female preponderance in DR is not significant. There is an age-related increase in diabetic retinopathy, but the values are not statistically significant. 60% of our patients of DR are agricultural labourers in our study. Average age of diabetic retinopathy patients in our study is around 54. Duration of diabetes increased the prevalence of DR, but the values are not significant in our study. Systolic blood pressure, albuminuria and smoking history correlated with severity of DR (p-value < 0.05). BMI, alcoholism and diastolic blood pressure did not correlate with severity of diabetic retinopathy.Conclusion:There is a statistically significant correlation between severity of Diabetic retinopathy and systolic blood pressure, albuminuria and smoking. Other factors like female preponderance, higher BMI, diastolic blood pressure and alcohol intake were high among patients of diabetic retinopathy, but the values did not show statistically significant correlation with the severity of diabetic retinopathy.