Comparison of serum lipid profile in Type-2 Diabetics with and without retinopathy in Pakistani population

OBJECTIVE To compare serum cholesterol, TG, HDL-C and LDL-C concentrations between type-2 Diabetes mellitus (DM) patients with retinopathy and without retinopathy and to study association between various modifiable risk factors of Diabetic retinopathy (DR). METHODS The study included 300 patients with type 2 DM; 140 of them were without DR (Group-I) and 160 were with DR (Group-II). Serum total cholesterol, LDL-C, HDL-C, and TG levels were determined. SPSS 17.0 for windows was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS Overall, mean age of study population was 48.86 ± 5.62 years. Subjects with DR were older (P < 0.018), had higher fasting plasma glucose (P < 0.01) and higher HbA1c (P <0.01) concentrations compared with those without DR. Analysis of serum cholesterol, LDL-C, HDL-C and TG among subgroups of patients with no DR, with NPDR and PDR showed statistically significant difference (p <0.01). There was strong positive correlation of severity of DR with BSF, HbA1c, serum LDL-C, total cholesterol and TG. CONCLUSION The serum cholesterol, TG, HDL-C and LDL-C concentrations were found to be significantly deranged in patients with DR as compared to those without DR.