Diabetic Retinopathy in the Context of Patients with Diabetes

Abstract

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the most frequent complication of diabetes. The main risk factors are disease duration, a poor glycemic control, and the presence of hypertension. However, there is an important variation in risk which indicates that other factors, such as genetic heritability or glycemic variability, play an important role in accounting for the susceptibility to DR development. Another important concept is that DR is an independent predictor of both microvascular and macrovascular complications. Thus, the presence of DR should be taken into account when evaluating the cardiovascular risk of a diabetic subject. Moreover, the evaluation of retinal neurodegeneration could help to identify those diabetic subjects at risk of cognitive impairment, an emerging complication of the type 2 diabetic population. When evaluating a diabetic subject, the awareness of the presence of DR has also therapeutic implications. In this regard, a worsening of DR could occur after a rapid improvement of blood glucose. In summary, a critical review on the importance of the presence of DR in the general management of subjects with diabetes is provided.

p38 promoted retinal micro-angiogenesis through up-regulated RUNX1 expression in diabetic retinopathy

“…DR is a common complication of diabetes mellitus, and the underlying mechanisms are still not fully delineated [3,25]. DR is induced by diabetes, which causes the pathology of retinal capillaries, arterioles and venules and subsequent leakage from or occlusion of small vessels [14,25,26]. Hence, it is still necessary to find a new mechanism to improve therapies for DR.…”

Diabetes and Sarcopenic Obesity: Pathogenesis, Diagnosis, and Treatments

“…There are many diabetes-related ocular diseases, such as cataract, glaucoma, ischemic optic neuropathy, cranial nerve palsies, and recurrent corneal erosion syndrome (102). However, diabetic retinopathy is the most well-known complication, and it is expected to increase from 415 million in 2015 to 642 million by 2040 (103). Moreover, World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that diabetic retinopathy leads to blindness in 5% of blind people (104).…”

Fuzzy logic use in classification of the severity of diabetic retinopathy

“…The DR is a progressive microvascular complication of diabetes producing irreversible retinal deterioration. Thus, precocious diagnosis and preventive intervention are the best tools that may prevent or retard blindness, and consequently improve the quality of life of these individuals (17) . Taking into consideration the DR characteristics, we apply fuzzy logic to rank characteristics sonographic and FP related to DR.…”