Abstract
To examine the association between various retinal vascular measurements and microalbuminuria in patients with type 2 diabetes in a northwestern China study. Data from 911 patients with type 2 diabetes were analyzed. Novel retinal vascular measurements from the whole vascular tree were extracted using a validated fully automatic computer program. Retinal vascular measurements were analyzed continuously and categorically for associations with microalbuminuria using multiple logistic regressions, adjusted for related variables. In logistic regression adjusting for multiple variables, microalbuminuria was associated with smaller peripheral arteriolar caliber, larger peripheral venular caliber, larger arteriolar tortuosity, and smaller arteriolar fractal dimension (p = 0.028, p < 0.001, p = 0.038, p = 0.035, respectively). In further categorical analyses, microalbuminuria was related to smaller peripheral arteriolar caliber [T1 vs. T3: odds ratio (OR) 2.029; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.186–3.473], larger peripheral venular caliber (T1 vs. T3: OR 0.609; 95% CI 0.362–1.024), and smaller arteriolar fractal dimension (T1 vs. T3: OR 1.659; 95% CI 1.028–2.675). Microalbuminuria in type 2 diabetes is associated with both retinal vascular caliber and geometry. These noninvasive vascular measurements serve as potential preclinical markers to identify populations at high risk of early kidney disease in the course of diabetes.
Highlights
To examine the association between various retinal vascular measurements and microalbuminuria in patients with type 2 diabetes in a northwestern China study
Two models were used to analyze the association between vascular measurements and microalbuminuria in logistic regression, with the first model adjusted for basic participant information and the second model further adjusted for covariates known to be associated with renal dysfunction (i.e., duration, smoking, Body mass index (BMI), systolic and diastolic blood pressure, glycosylated hemoglobin (%), total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and triglyceride)
We extended the vascular measurements to the entire vascular tree and explored the associations between microalbuminuria and retinal vascular measurements in patients with type 2 diabetes
Summary
To examine the association between various retinal vascular measurements and microalbuminuria in patients with type 2 diabetes in a northwestern China study. Inspiring results were reported, to the best of our knowledge, no study has extended the measurements to include all visible vessels in the retinal image. We examined the associations between various retinal vascular measurements and urinary albumin to creatinine ratio (ACR) in patients with type 2 diabetes.
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