Introduction: Our study is aimed to examine the relationship between visit-to-visit variability (VVV) of HbA1c and development/ progression of diabetic retinopathy (DR).
Methods: This retrospective study analyzed data on 5,898 T2DM patients that had ophthalmic follow data. The VVV of HbA1c was evaluated using the intrapersonal coefficient of variation (CV) of HbA1c during a 7-year period from 2014-2020. We divided patients as (1) diagnosed with non-DR and (2) diagnosed with DR at start of this study. DR was assessed by Davis classification. Data analyses were performed using SPSS version 29.0 software.
Results: The number of patients is as follows; (1) patients with non-DR(n=4,197), (2) patients with DR(n=1,701). Multivariate logistic regression analyses indicated there is no significant association with CV of HbA1c and development of DR. There are, however, significant increase risks of development of DR with HbA1c level (OR=1.37), pulse pressure (OR=1.04) and diabetic duration (OR=1.02). Interestingly, there is significant association with CV of HbA1c and progression of DR (OR=1.04, Figure).
Conclusion: This study suggests that development of DR was associated with HbA1c level, pulse pressure and diabetic duration, but not with VVV of HbA1c. Progression of DR was associated with VVV of HbA1c. Thus, the VVV of HbA1c might be a new marker of progression of diabetic retinopathy.
M. Yuki: None. T. Yamazaki: None. R. Toki: None. M. Sakamoto: None.
