Frequency of retinopathy in prediabetic patients: A retrospective one-center study

Abstract

Prediabetes is a condition in which glucose levels are high but do not reach the diagnostic limits of diabetes. The development of diabetes in prediabetic patients has been reported as 70% in some studies. Description of prediabetes is very important, as early diagnosis can prevent conversion to diabetes and diabetes complications. A number of observational studies have shown that prediabetes is associated with the risk of microvascular disease. In this study, it was aimed to identify prediabetic patients who started retinopathy. Our study is a retrospective study and was designed according to the 2022 guideline of the Turkish Endocrine and Metabolism Society (TEMS). It included 244 patients in the study. The presence of retinopathy was detected by performing a fundus examination of patients diagnosed with prediabetes. Of the 244 patients included in the study, 195 were female, 49 were male; mean age was 51.95±10.47 years, mean Body Mass Index (BMI) was 31.03±5.15 kg/m2 and mean HbA1c was 6.03%±0.17. Diabetic retinopathy was detected in 33 of 244 (13.5%) cases. The most common comorbidity detected in patients with diabetic retinopathy was hyperlipidemia. The frequency of hyperlipidemia was 54.55%, and the frequency of retinopathy-positive cases with hyperlipidemia was 35.55%, which was statistically significant (p=0.037). There was no significant difference in the coexistence of nephropathy and retinopathy. The rate of retinopathy detected in prediabetic patients was consistent with the literature (13.5%, p<0.05). When the study is designed prospectively, we can get fluent answers to our questions by determining the type and stage of retinopathy. If prediabetes is taken seriously in terms of both its transformation into diabetes and co-existing diseases, the expenses to be made in this regard will also be prevented.