title: Association of serum lipid levels with diabetic retinopathy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the association between serum lipids and diabetic retinopathy (DR).
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty-one diabetic patients without retinopathy(NDR), 55 diabetic patients with non-proliferative retinopathy(NPDR) and 75 diabetic patients with proliferative retinopathy (PDR) according to ETDRS grading scale were enrolled in this study. Total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein (HDL), low density lipoprotein (LDL), very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) and triglyceride values were compared between the groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The groups were well-balanced in terms of age and gender (P=0.071, P=0.265 respectively). The mean HbA1c values were significantly lower in NDR group than the NPDR and PDR groups (P=0.004, P=0.009 respectively). Mean total cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL, HDL and VLDL levels were not significantly different between the groups (P=0.693, P=0.774, P=0.644, P=0.910 and P=0.967 respectively, one way ANOVA). Mean total cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL, HDL and VLDL levels were not significantly different between the patients with ME and patients without ME (P=0.622, P=0.113, P=0.955, P=0.735 and P=0.490 respectively, t-test). The mean blood glucose significantly correlated with total cholesterol (r=0.173, P=0.017) and LDL (r=0.190, P=0.008). The mean HbA1c significantly correlated with total cholesterol (r=0.158, P=0.030) and triglyceride (r=0.148, P=0.042).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Serum lipid levels were not significantly associated with the severity of DR or existence of ME despite the significant correlation between the mean blood glucose, HbA1c and total cholesterol.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, Pamukkale University, Denizli, Turkey.
authors.forename: Ebru Nevin
authors.initials: EN
authors.lastname: Cetin
authors.forename: Yunus
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bulgu
authors.forename: Seyfullah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ozdemir
authors.forename: Senay
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Topsakal
authors.forename: Fulya
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Akın
authors.forename: Hulya
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Aybek
authors.forename: Cem
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yıldırım
keywords: cholesterol; diabetes mellitus; diabetic retinopathy; high density lipoprotein; low density lipoprotein; macular edema; triglyceride