[Prospective study of correlation between diabetic retinopathy and microalbuminuria in diabetes type 1 patients]

To determine the relationship between microalbuminuria and diabetic retinopathy.

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.

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.

In the population studied the microalbuminuria was not a good marker for diabetic retinopathy.