[Survival rate of patients with diabetic retinopathy after vitreous surgery]

We studied various factors affecting the survival rate after vitreous surgery in 140 patients with diabetic retinopathy, who had undergone vitreous surgery between 1982 and 1990, according to the life-table theory and Cox proportional hazards model. The 5-year survival rate was 95.8%. The most common cause of death was cerebro-cardiovascular disease in 75.0%. The ratio of the observed number of deaths (O) to the expected ones (E), the O/E ratio, was significantly higher in patients who had undergone surgery between 55 and 69 years of age. The O/E ratio was significantly higher in both cardiovascular disease and cerebrovascular disease groups. Factors associated with a lower survival rate included age at operation, history of nephropathy, and neuropathy.