Retinopathy in type 2 diabetes mellitus is associated with increased intima‐media thickness and endothelial dysfunction

Abstract

DR is associated with increased IMT and endothelial dysfunction in T2DM. Impaired endothelial function may be a common denominator of pathogenesis of microvascular complications and atherosclerosis in T2DM.

Factors associated with carotid intima-media thickness and carotid plaques in type 2 diabetic patients

“…Diabetic microvascular disease may be associated with subclinical atherosclerosis, as indicated by the increased cardiovascular mortality associated with the presence of microvascular complications [23]. Some previous studies [6][7][8][9] investigated the relation between carotid IMT and plaque with diabetic retinopathy. Two of them [6,7] reported independent associations of carotid IMT with diabetic retinopathy.…”

“…Some previous studies [6][7][8][9] investigated the relation between carotid IMT and plaque with diabetic retinopathy. Two of them [6,7] reported independent associations of carotid IMT with diabetic retinopathy. However, another study [8] did not demonstrate independent associations between diabetic retinopathy and CCA or ICA-IMT and with carotid stenosis.…”

“…Although most of them reported positive associations with microvascular complications [6,7,[9][10][11], this issue remains controversial [8,12]. Furthermore, no study in type 2 diabetic patients examined whether there are site-specific differences regarding the associations between carotid atherosclerosis and cardiovascular risk factors and diabetic complications, or explored the relationships between carotid IMT and plaques and the ankle-brachial index (ABI), another potential marker of initial systemic atherosclerotic disease.…”

“…In type 2 diabetes, carotid IMT and plaques have been investigated in relation to the presence of chronic microvascular complications [6][7][8][9][10][11][12] and traditional cardiovascular risk markers or diabetes-related factors [13]. Although most of them reported positive associations with microvascular complications [6,7,[9][10][11], this issue remains controversial [8,12].…”

Carotid intima-media thickness and arterial stiffness in type 1 diabetic patients with and without microangiopathy

“…The AI was strongly associated with retinopathy even after adjusting for all above parameters except age and duration of diabetes [19]. A similar association between retinopathy and increased CIMT was reported in type 2 diabetes in the work of Malecki et al [20]. Recently, Cardoso et al demonstrated that increased central arterial stiffness measured by pulse wave velocity (PWV) is associated with the presence of microvascular complications (retinopathy and peripheral neuropathy) independently of other established determinants of aortic stiffness [21].…”