Is Blood Pressure a Predictor of the Incidence or Progression of Diabetic Retinopathy?

Incidence and Progression of Diabetic Retinopathy in Hispanics and Non-Hispanic Whites With Type 2 Diabetes. San Luis Valley Diabetes Study, Colorado

“…Insulin users had younger age at onset (45.9 vs. 54.0 years, P < 0.001), longer duration (9.2 vs. 3.5 years, P = 0.0003), and higher GHb levels (10.3 vs. 9.1%, P = 0.004), but they had a similar prevalence of hypertension (66.9 vs. 65.5%, P = 0.77). Systolic blood pressure and GHb level were associated with increased incidence rates of retinopathy in our study (though not reaching conventional levels of significance because of the small number of subjects), which is compatible with previous studies (13,15,(17)(18)(19)(20)42,43). The negative association of diabetes duration that was found using both the logistic (nonsignificant) and Cox (significant) models could have been an anomalous result, because those sub- jects with follow-up had type 2 diabetes for a shorter duration (6.4 vs. 8.6 years).…”

A community-based follow-up study on diabetic retinopathy among type 2 diabetics in Kinmen

“…Since blood pressure plays an important role in the development of DR, monitoring the blood pressure is essential in early detection of DR [28]. DBP, as reported in other population-based studies, is not related to development of DR [22,29]. In the Swedish type 2 diabetics, however, higher DBP was associated with the development of DR only in subjects treated with oral agents [30].…”

Diabetic Retinopathy

“…As noted earlier, maintenance of appropriate blood pressure (41) and serum lipid concentrations (42) have a positive impact on the patients visual prognosis and should be carefully monitored in partnership with the patients general medical physician.…”