title: Is hypertension a major independent risk factor for retinopathy in type 1 diabetes?
abstract: Hypertension is an established risk factor for retinopathy. Whether it is an independent risk factor or acts only by association with nephropathy is not known. Therefore, we studied 273 Type 1 diabetic patients. They were divided into four groups. Group 1 (n = 55) were normotensive and normoalbuminuric, group 2 (n = 51) had hypertension but were normoalbuminuric, group 3 (n = 33) had nephropathy but were normotensive, and group 4 (n = 134) had nephropathy and hypertension. Hypertensive patients with normoalbuminuria (blood pressure 146 +/- 19 (+/-SD)/87 +/- 12 mmHg) had the same prevalence of retinopathy as normoalbuminuric normotensive patients (123 +/- 12/75 +/- 5 mmHg). Hypertensive nephropathic patients (blood pressure 147 +/- 18/87 +/- 8 mmHg) had more retinopathy than hypertensive normoalbuminuric patients despite similar blood pressure (normal retina/advanced retinopathy: 3%/73% vs 46%/17%, p less than 0.001). Nephropathic normotensive patients had worse retinal changes than hypertensive normoalbuminuric patients (19%/49%, p less than 0.001) but fewer than the nephropathic hypertensive patients p less than 0.001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Steno Memorial Hospital, Gentofte, Denmark.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nørgaard
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Feldt-Rasmussen
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Deckert
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000419:Albuminuria; D001794:Blood Pressure; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003404:Creatinine / Q000097:blood; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003928:Diabetic Nephropathies / Q000503:physiopathology; D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008875:Middle Aged; D012160:Retina / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D003404:Creatinine; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin