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Diameter of retinal venules may indicate diabetic retinopathy progression
Roy MS. Arch Ophthalmol. 2011;129:8-15.
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Larger retinal venular diameter may indicate the development of proliferative diabetic retinopathy with or without high-risk characteristics in black patients with type 1 diabetes, a study found.
The study included 468 participants from an earlier study, known as the New Jersey 725, who were diagnosed and treated with insulin before age 30 years and continued to take insulin throughout the original study's duration. Patients underwent baseline and 6-year follow-up exams in which seven color fundus photographs were graded for severity of diabetic retinopathy.
The mean central retinal arteriolar equivalent for right and left eyes was 168.8 mcm with a standard deviation of 16 mcm, while the mean central retinal venular equivalent was 254.2 mcm with a deviation of 25.2 mcm. Both measurements were correlated between eyes (P<.001).
Multivariate analysis suggested that larger retinal venular diameter is an early and independent indicator of diabetic retinopathy progression in eyes with less severe baseline diabetic retinopathy. A larger sample size is necessary to determine if this factor will indicate progression in those with more severe baseline diabetic retinopathy, the researchers wrote.
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