Visual Abstract
Objective: Increased hemoglobin (HGB) has been described as an adaptive response to hypoxia in high altitude. This study aimed to investigate whether increased HGB level had a role in the development of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in Tibetan male patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D).
Methods: This cross-sectional, hospital-based study utilized data from 653 Tibetan male patients with T2D from 2018-2020. Patients were divided into two groups based on HGB level (group 1: 12.0 ≤ HGB < 16.0 g/dL;group 2: HGB ≥16.0 g/dL). DR was diagnosed according to the fundus photographs and fundus fluorescein angiography.
Results: DR was confirmed in 140 (21.4%) patients. Clinical characteristics of subjects was showed in Table 1. There was an inverse relationship between HGB level and the prevalence of DR in multiple linear regression analysis. A 14% decrease in prevalence of DR was found with a 1.0-g/dL increment in HGB level (95% CI: 0.75-0.98). Multiple logistic regression analysis conformed patients with higher HGB level showed an odds ratio of 0.50 (95% CI, 0.31-0.86) for DR after adjusted age, duration of T2D, smoke, LDL-C, HbA1c and presence of chronic kidney disease compared to those with lower HGB level.
Conclusions: Our finding indicate that higher HGB level was associated with reduced presence of DR in Tibetan male patients with T2D.
C. Zhang: None.
