Retinal vascular caliber, diabetes, and retinopathy

Abstract

PURPOSE: To assess the relationship of retinal vessel caliber with diabetes and diabetic retinopathy (DR). DESIGN: Population-based cross-sectional analysis of the Blue Mountains Eye Study, Australia (n = 3,654, age >or=49 years). METHODS: Diabetes was defined as physician-diagnosed or fasting blood glucose >or= 7.0 mmol/l; impaired fasting glucose as fasting glucose 6.1 to 6.9 mmol/l. DR was graded from retinal photographs. Retinal vessel caliber was measured from digitized images. RESULTS: After controlling for age, gender, blood pressure, and other factors, mean retinal venular caliber was significantly wider in participants with moderate-severe nonproliferative DR (severe 262.7 microm; m..