risk factors for diabetic retinopathy in type ii diabetes mellitus

purpose: to determine the correlation between presumed risk factors and diabetic retinopathy (dr) in patients with type ii diabetes mellitus (dm). methods: this descriptive analytical study was performed on medical records of patients with type ii dm referred to a diabetes clinic in birjand valiasr hospital from september 2006 to september 2007. parameters included age, sex, duration of dm, type of ocular involvement, blood lipid profile and levels of fasting blood sugar (fbs) and hemoglobin a1c (hb a1c). results: the study included 359 patients with mean age of 51.2±0.8 (range 35-65) years including 66.6% female subjects. duration of dm was less than 5 years in 54.2%. overall, 37.3% of patients had ocular involvement including non-proliferative retinopathy in 71.6%, proliferative retinopathy in 20.2% and cataracts in 3.0%. there was a positive correlation between presence of retinopathy and dm duration (p=0.001), age (p=0.006), male sex (p=0.002), high fbs levels (p=0.03) and low hb a1c levels (p=0.001) but there was no significant correlation between retinopathy and blood lipid profile. conclusion: duration of diabetes, aging, male sex, high fbs levels and low hb a1c levels increase the chance for developing diabetic retinopathy in patients with diabetes mellitus type 2.