Sivaramareddy Kolli 1 , Anandareddy Endreddy 2 , Viswas Reddy
BACKGROUND Diabetic retinopathy is a leading cause of blindness in adults and is unique in displaying a uniform epidemiology profile worldwide. Diabetic maculopathy is the most common microvascular complication in diabetes which can produce severe visual loss. Apart from diabetes, a number of systemic factor like hypertension, has an important role in occurrence and progression of DME. Thus control of these factors along with control of blood sugars can prevent or reverse the maculopathy and there by restore the vision of diabetic patients. OBJECTIVE To study the association of diabetic maculopathy with hypertension and to highlight the effect of this factor on onset and/or progression of diabetic maculopathy. METHODS A cross sectional two group comparative study was carried out in 100 diabetic patients with retinopathy more than 18 years attending the department of ophthalmology (Katuri medical college) in the period of September 2012 to April 2014. For all patients, visual acuity with Snellen’s chart, slit lamp examination, intraocular pressure by applanation tonometry, fundus examination with direct, indirect ophthalmoscopy and 90D lens was conducted. Patients were divided into 2 groups (group1-Retinopathy with maculopathy and group 2- retinopathy without maculopathy). A detailed history of duration of diabetes, type of treatment, hypertension, taken from the patient. The significance of the hypertension was compared in both the groups involved in the study. RESULTS In the present study of 100 patients diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy, majority were males (54% in study group and 58% in control group) by age 51-60 years. There was no significant difference in the age and gender distribution among two groups. Majority of the patients in the both groups were on treatment with anti-hypertensives (64% in the study group and 74% in control group). In this study, the mean value of SBP and DBP were significantly higher in study group compared to control group. CONCLUSION Diabetic maculopathy was significantly associated with systemic risk factors like high blood pressure, thus early detection of this risk factor and its control prevent the development and progression of maculopathy and there by prevent the significant visual loss in diabetic patient.
