Study of Prevalence of Diabetic Retinopathy in Diabetics with Microalbuminuria

Background: The concordance of microalbuminuria and diabetic retinopathy (DR) has been well reported in persons with type 1 diabetes; however, for type 2 diabetes, there is paucity of data especially from population based studies. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of microalbuminuria among persons with type 2 diabetes. Methods: A population-based cross sectional study was conducted in cohort of 160 subjects with type 2 diabetes. All the subjects underwent comprehensive eye examination with the help of indirect ophthalmoscope by the practicing ophthalmologist. A morning urine sample was tested for albuminuria. Subjects were considered to have microalbuminuria, if the urinary albumin excretion was between 30 and 300 mg/24 hours. The statistical software used was SPSS for Windows and X2 test, to compare proportions amongst groups were used. Results: The prevalence of microalbuminuria in the study subjects was 27.5 % (44/160). Overall prevalence of Diabetic Retinopathy was 30 % (48/160), 5 % of which showed proliferative diabetic retinopathy. The prevalence of Diabetic Retinopathy in microalbuminuria patients was 45.4 % (20/44) and in patients with normoalbuminuria is 24.1 (28/116). Association of MICROALBUMINURIA and DR was statistically significant (0.00867). Conclusions: The presence of Microalbuminuria in Diabetic patients is highly associated with the development of Diabetic Retinopathy. The study suggest that microalbuminuria may be a marker for the risk of development of proliferative retinopathy.