Association of retinopathy and intima media thickness of common carotid artery in type 2 diabetic patients

This study was carried out in order to evaluate the relationship between retinopathy and carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT). In a cross-sectional study, 154 diabetic patients who had a history of diabetic disease were evaluated in two equal groups of 77 patients with and without retinopathy, respectively. CIMT was evaluated in all of the patients. Mean age of the patients was 59.65 ± 9.37 years. Mean CIMT of all patients was 0.84 ± 0.18. CIMT of patients with retinopathy was significantly greater than patients without retinopathy (P < 0.001). CIMT also correlated with age, duration of diabetes, systolic blood pressure, blood urea nitrogen, and serum creatinine. CIMT may be used as a simple, available and noninvasive method for screening of macro and microvascular complication of diabetic patients.