title: Retinitis pigmentosa reduces the risk of proliferative diabetic retinopathy: a nationwide population-based cohort study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the association between retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and the progression of diabetic retinopathy (DR).
  
  
  METHODS
  Using the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2000 of Taiwan, we identified individuals with an initial diagnosis for RP during the period of 1997-2008. A non-RP comparison group, 10-fold frequency matched by sex, age, index year and the year of diabetes diagnosed, were randomly selected from the same database. The occurrence of DR was observed for all subjects until the end of 2009. The Kaplan-Meier curves were used to illustrate the cumulative probability of developing DR for the RP group and comparison groups. The hazard ratio (HR) of DR for the RP group relative to the comparison group was estimated using Cox proportional hazards model after adjusting for potential confounders.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The Kaplan-Meier curves were not statistically significant different between the RP group and the comparison group. However, the RP group had a higher cumulative probability of developing DR during the first six to seven years. The cumulative probability kept increasing and became higher in the comparison group but remained unchanged in the RP group. The HR for the RP patients comparing with the comparison group was 0.96 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.43-2.14). Stratified by severity, RP was associated with a non-statistically significant reduced risk of proliferative DR (PDR) (HR = 0.70, 95% CI = 0.16-3.14). The HR for non-proliferative DR (NPDR) was 1.08 (95% CI = 0.40-2.86).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this study, RP was not statistically significant associated with the incidence of DR.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, New Taipei City Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yuh-Fang
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Hsin-Yi
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Che-Chen
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Muh-Shy
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Pei-Chun
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: I-Jong
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012174:Retinitis Pigmentosa / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology; D012306:Risk; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology