Diabetic retinopathy tied to increased risk of death; claims study

Written By : Dr Satabdi Saha |Medically Reviewed By : Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli Published On 2021-03-10T19:30:59+05:30 | Updated On 10 March 2021 7:31 PM IST

Diabetic retinopathy has been associated with an increased risk of death in patients aged greater than 30 years, suggests a recent ,published in Ophthalmic Research. Researchers have further opined that visual impairment was not significantly linked to death.

Researcherss undertook a study with the aim to explore the association between diabetic retinopathy (DR) and the risk of six-year death, as well as the association between visual impairment (VI) and the risk of six-year death, in a rural Chinese population of age≥30 years.

The design was a population-based cohort study. In 2006-2007, 6,830 subjects aged ≥30 years were recruited from 13 villages in northern China through clustered randomization. In 2012-2013, a six-year follow-up was further done. Six different proportional hazards models, with different confounders adjusted, were used to explore the association between baseline DR and risk of death.

On data analysis, the following facts emerged.

5,570 subjects were included in this study by our inclusion and exclusion criteria.
410 (7.36%) subjects died by follow-up. The median ages of the dead subjects and survived subjects were 67 (interquartile range, IQR: 58-72) years and 52 (IQR: 42-58) years (Z=21.979, p<0.001).
Male accounted for 62.20% and 44.92% among the dead and survived subjects (p<0.001). Besides, compared with those survived, the dead were found to be with lower education (p<0.001), lower marriage rate (p<0.001), lower income (p<0.001), higher proportion of smoking (p=0.003), higher systolic blood pressure (Z=10.411, p<0.001), lower body mass index (Z=-3.302, p=0.001), larger spherical equivalent error (Z=4.248, p<0.001), lower intraocular pressure (Z=-4.912, p<0.001), smaller anterior chamber depth (Z=-9.186, p<0.001), larger length thickness (Z=11.069, p<0.001), higher fast blood glucose level (Z=5.650, p<0.001), higher total cholesterols (Z=2.015, p=0.044), higher low-density lipoprotein (Z=2.024, p=0.043), higher proportion of drug usage (p<0.001).
Besides, the dead subjects were more likely to be with VI, glaucoma, cataract, age-related macular degeneration, diabetes and DR. 148 subjects were diagnosed with DR at baseline, 33 (22.30%) of them were dead before follow-up.

For the full article ,follow the link: https://doi.org/10.1159/000512667

Primary source: Ophthalmic Research

Diabetic retinopathyrisk of premature deathopthalmic research

Source : Ophthalmic Research

Dr Satabdi Saha

Dr Satabdi Saha (BDS, MDS) is a practicing pediatric dentist with a keen interest in new medical researches and updates. She has completed her BDS from North Bengal Dental College ,Darjeeling. Then she went on to secure an ALL INDIA NEET PG rank and completed her MDS from the first dental college in the country – Dr R. Ahmed Dental College and Hospital. She is currently attached to The Marwari Relief Society Hospital as a consultant along with private practice of 2 years. She has published scientific papers in national and international journals. Her strong passion of sharing knowledge with the medical fraternity has motivated her to be a part of Medical Dialogues.

Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli

Dr Kamal Kant Kohli-MBBS, DTCD- a chest specialist with more than 30 years of practice and a flair for writing clinical articles, Dr Kamal Kant Kohli joined Medical Dialogues as a Chief Editor of Medical News. Besides writing articles, as an editor, he proofreads and verifies all the medical content published on Medical Dialogues including those coming from journals, studies,medical conferences,guidelines etc. Email: drkohli@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751