[Prospective study of correlation between diabetic retinopathy and microalbuminuria in diabetes type 1 patients].
OBJECTIVE
To determine the relationship between microalbuminuria and diabetic retinopathy.


METHODS
Prospective study of 5 years duration in 104 younger-onset diabetic patients; the diabetic retinopathy diagnosis was made by fundus retinography, and determination of microalbuminuria in 6 months time intervals.


RESULTS
The incidence of diabetic retinopathy was 33 patients (31.73%), the epidemiological factors implicated were diabetes duration, sex (men), high levels of HbA1c, high diastolic blood pressure, and high levels of HDL-cholesterol in inverse mode. The incidence of microalbuminuria was 25 patients (24.03%), the epidemiological factors implicated were high levels of HbA1c and the presence of high diastolic blood pressure. The association between microalbuminuria and diabetic retinopathy results in 4 groups of patients, 63 patients with neither microalbuminuria nor retinopathy. 17 patients developed microalbuminuria and diabetic retinopathy, 16 patients developed retinopathy but not microalbuminuria and 8 patients developed only microalbuminuria. The group of patients with microalbuminuria and retinopathy were associated with higher levels of HbA1c, high diastolic blood pressure and high levels of Total-cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol ; the group with only retinopathy was associated with diabetes duration and high levels of triglycerides.


CONCLUSIONS
In the population studied the microalbuminuria was not a good marker for diabetic retinopathy.
Aroca
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Unidad de Oftalmología, Hospital Universitario San Joan Reus, Departamento de Medicina y Cirugía, Universidad Rovira y Virgili, 43202 Reus (Tarragona), Spain.
Espeso Sentís
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Del Castillo
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D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000419:Albuminuria / Q000150:complications*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D003928:Diabetic Nephropathies / Q000150:complications*; D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000150:complications*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D014792:Visual Acuity