Abstract
Purpose: :
The serum prorenin level has useful prognostic value for the development of diabetic retinopathy (DR). However, a question still remains about whether the serum prorenin level is also useful for detecting other ocular diseases in subjects who are not diabetic.
Methods: :
Men (n=459) and women (n=433) who were not diabetic were enrolled in the current study. The antibody activating direct enzyme kinetic assay of human prorenin (AAD-PR assay) was used to determine the serum prorenin levels. The subjects were divided into groups by ophthalmologic diagnosis, i.e., retinal hemorrhage, glaucoma, cataract, retinal artery stenosis, and drusen. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to detect significant differences in the serum prorenin levels between the groups and genders. In addition, multiple regression analysis was performed to investigate factors affecting the serum prorenin levels, i.e., age, body mass index (BMI), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), total cholesterol (T-cho), fasting blood sugar (FBS), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), or estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR).
Results: :
The serum prorenin levels were significantly higher in men without diabetes (109.2±59.1pg/ml) than in women without diabetes (85.3±50.5pg/ml) (Student’s t-test: p<0.001). There was no significant difference in the serum prorenin levels among the groups based on ocular signs (one-way ANOVA, men, p=0.08; women, p=0.21). The DBP was correlated negatively with the serum prorenin levels in men (r=-0.1992, p=0.021) and women (r=-0.2076, p=0.031). Other factors including, age, BMI, SBP, T-cho, FBS, HbA1c, and eGFR were not correlated significantly with the serum prorenin levels in subjects without diabetes.
Conclusions: :
Our data showed that the serum prorenin levels were correlated negatively with DBP in subjects without diabetes. The current data did not detect a correlation between the serum prorenin levels and cataract, glaucoma, retinal artery stenosis, and drusen. Taken together with previous studies, the serum prorenin level is a specific marker for the development and worsening of DR in patients with diabetes.
Keywords: clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: risk factor assessment • retina • aging