Abstract
Purpose: :
To examine whether modifiable risk factors affect all-cause mortality in type II diabetic patients diagnosed with retinal arteriolar emboli.
Methods: :
Patients with retinal arteriolar emboli were identified with information collected on patients’ age, gender, race, tobacco status, HbA1C, prior cerebrovascular accident or myocardial infarction, presence of diabetic retinopathy, use of hypertension medications, use of cholesterol-lowering medications, and use of anticoagulants / antiplatelets.
Results: :
147 patients (1.9%) were identified with retinal arteriolar emboli with 112 patients having a minimum of 30-months follow-up. Of the 112 patients, 22 (19.64%) were deceased by 30 months after diagnosis. A random sample of 500 age-matched controls from remaining 7, 672 type II diabetic patients without retinal arteriolar emboli revealed a 10.20 % all-cause mortality rate (P=0.0091). Patients who had a prior cerebrovascular accident or myocardial infarction (P=0.0459) had a statistically significant higher mortality rate as compared with patients who were living at 30 months. Association with higher mortality was similar for those patients who were older at time of diagnosis of retinal arteriolar emboli (P=0.0046). No statistical significance was demonstrated between all-cause mortality of patients based on smoking status, HbA1C, presence of diabetic retinopathy, use of hypertension medications, use of cholesterol-lowering medications, and use of anticoagulants / antiplatelets.
Conclusions: :
In type II diabetic patients diagnosed with retinal arteriolar emboli, there is a statistically significant increase in all-cause mortality when compared to age-matched controls of type II diabetic patients without retinal arteriolar emboli. In addition, there is a statistically significant relationship between patients’ age at diagnosis and prior history of cerebrovascular accident or myocardial infarction.
Keywords: vascular occlusion/vascular occlusive disease • diabetes