Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 12, 2025
A Reproducible Computerized Method for Quantitation of Capillary Density using Nailfold Capillaroscopy
Published on: October 27, 2015
Relationship between nailfold capillaroscopy parameters and the severity of diabetic retinopathy
Tatsu Okabe1, Hiroshi Kunikata2,3, Masayuki Yasuda1
1Department of Ophthalmology, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1 Seiryo, Aoba, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-8574, Japan.
Purpose:
To determine whether non-invasive measurements of the nailfold capillaries (NCs) are associated with the presence and severity of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in patients with type 2 diabetes.
Methods:
Eighty-three eyes of 83 patients with type 2 diabetes were enrolled. Sixty-three age-matched non-diabetic subjects served as controls. Diabetic patients were classified by the severity of their DR: non-DR (NDR), non-proliferative DR (NPDR), and proliferative DR (PDR). We used nailfold capillaroscopy to measure NC parameters, including number, length, width, and turbidity.
Results:
Four NC parameters in the diabetic patients were significantly lower than in the controls (all P < 0.001). There was a statistically significant decrease in the NC parameters along with the increasing severity of DR (number: P = 0.02; all others: P < 0.001). Logistic regression analysis revealed that combining the systemic characteristics of age, sex, systolic blood pressure, estimated glomerular filtration rate, hemoglobin A1c level, and history of hypertension and dyslipidemia could indicate the presence of DR and PDR (the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUC] = 0.81, P = 0.006; AUC = 0.87, P = 0.001, respectively). Furthermore, the discriminative power of DR was significantly improved (P = 0.03) by adding NC length to the systemic findings (AUC = 0.89, P < 0.001).
Conclusion:
NC measurement is a simple and non-invasive way to assess the risk of DR and its severity.
