Relationship of Serum HbA1c and Fasting Serum Lipids with Central Macular Thickness in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

Background: Diabetic retinopathy, the most common retinal vascular disease, is the leading cause of new-blindness in adults during the third through sixth decades of life.Purpose: To determine the correlation between central macular thickness (CMT) and both HbA1c and fasting serum lipids level in early stage non proliferative diabetic retinopathy.Results: The patients were divided into two groups as HbA1c >8.67% (Group I, n: 60) and HbA1c ≤8.67% (Group II, n: 72). The mean CMT of better eyes was 273.28±34.61 μm. The mean CMT of worse eye was 304.40±64.31 μm. According to comparison between Group I (HbA1c >8.67%) and Group II (HbA1c ≤8.67%) the mean CMT’s were not different in two groups (P: 0.37).Main findings: HbA1c level (8.76%) were significantly higher than normal upper limits in patient even under diabetic medication. In further analyses the mean CMT’s was not different in worse eye in Group I and Group II and it was not significantly different in better eyes in these two group either.Conclusion: Even we did not observed any correlation between level of HbA1c and the degree of CMT statistically in either worse or better eye, result of our study showed that patient had increased macular thickness even early stage of NPDR while having significantly higher HbA1c even under systemic medication.Brief Summary: The purpose of the current study was to determine the correlation between diabetic macular edema and both HbA1c and fasting serum lipids in early stage non proliferative diabetic retinopathy. We did not observed any correlation between level of HbA1c and the degree of central macular thickness (CMT) statistically in either worse or better eye. Our results may indirectly evidence of insufficient metabolic treatment can cause macular edema prior to other retinal signs. Potential implications: Systemic risk factor for follow-up of macular edema secondary to diabetes mellitus.