Abstract
Purpose:
The purpose of our study is to investigate the role of vitamin D deficiency in diabetic retinopathy.
Methods:
Retrospective cohort study approved by the Penn State Hershey Medical Center (HMC) Institutional Review Board (IRB). Medical records were reviewed of patients with a diagnosis of diabetes mellitus (DM), who had an eye examination at Penn State Hershey Eye Center and a serum 25-hydroxy (25-OH) vitamin D level within 12 months of the eye examination. Participants were identified using a computerized database search of patients seen at HMC with an ICD-9 diagnosis of diabetes mellitus and/or vitamin D deficiency between January 2000- April 2013. Exclusion criteria: age < 18 years and retinal vascular disease other than diabetic retinopathy (e.g. hypertensive retinopathy, vein/artery occlusion, sickle cell retinopathy). Logistic regression analysis coefficients, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Pearson’s correlation coefficients were used for statistical analyses.
Results:
The charts of 2637 patients were reviewed and 467 met inclusion criteria. The majority of patients were Caucasian (426, 91.22%), women (289, 61.88%) and had no diabetic retinopathy (341, 73.02%). 85 (18.20%) of the patients had non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy, 41 (8.78%) had proliferative diabetic retinopathy, and 15 (3.22%) had diabetic macular edema. There was a statistically significant association between type of diabetic retinopathy and patient age, duration of diabetes, hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C), presence of diabetic macular edema, coronary artery disease, and dialysis. There was a statistically significant association between 25-OH vitamin D level and patient age, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, HbA1C, and vitamin D supplementation.
Conclusions:
Vitamin D level does not appear to be significantly associated with any type of diabetic retinopathy. Although there was no significant association between vitamin D level and diabetic macular edema /dialysis, our sample size was insufficient.
Keywords: 499 diabetic retinopathy