Diabetic retinopathy, duration of diabetes and risk factors of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

The present study, concerning 145 insulin-dependent diabetics showed positive relationships between the severity of retinal disease on the one hand, and body weight, blood pressure, and serum cholesterol level on the other. These relationships remain significant when the duration of the clinical diabetes and the age of the patient are taken into account. Two interpretations are suggested. They are not incompatible. In diabetic subjects, either the increase in blood pressure and serum cholesterol level causes an aggravation of diabetic retinopathy or there exists a common factor at the origin of retinal lesions and of an increase in risk of cardiovascular disease through atherosclerosis.