Analysis of risk factors for progressive fibrovascular proliferation in proliferative diabetic retinopathy

To investigate the risk factors associated with progressive fibrovascular proliferation (FVP) in proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR).

We retrospectively reviewed the clinical data of patients who underwent pars plana vitrectomy for PDR between August 2017 and October 2019 at our department of ophthalmology. The FVP was divided into five grades based on the coverage area of proliferative membrane. Then we compared the patients with different severities of FVP to analyze the risk factors for higher grade of FVP in PDR.

Univariate analysis showed that positive urinary protein (p = 0.007), higher levels of serum blood urea nitrogen (BUN) (p < 0.001) and serum creatinine (p < 0.001), more severe stage of estimated glomerular filtration rate (p < 0.001), age < 45 years (p = 0.005), longer duration of diabetic retinopathy (p = 0.007), history of hypertension (p = 0.034) and smoking (p = 0.008) were related to FVP grade ≥ 3. Multivariate analysis showed that the level of BUN, age < 45 years and smoking were independent risk factors for FVP grade ≥ 3 in PDR patients.

This study demonstrated that BUN (odds ratio [OR] = 1.318, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.150-1.511, p < 0.001), age ≤ 45 years (OR = 3.774, 95% CI = 1.762-8.082, p = 0.001) and smoking (OR = 2.111, 95% CI = 1.040-4.288, p = 0.039) were independent risk factors for progressive FVP in PDR among northeastern Chinese patients.