Association of Serum Lipid Profile With Diabetic Retinopathy Severity in Adults With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Cross-Sectional Study From Eastern India.

Background Dyslipidemia is a frequent metabolic disorder, common in type 2 diabetes mellitus. Serum lipid parameters have increasingly become the focus of interest as potentially modifiable risk factors for the development and progression of diabetic retinopathy. Hence, the present study was designed to assess the association between serum lipid parameters and the severity of diabetic retinopathy among adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus attending a tertiary care center. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 98 adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Diabetic retinopathy was classified using the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) classification. Fasting blood glucose, postprandial blood glucose, and serum lipid profile were estimated. Association of serum lipid parameters with severity of diabetic retinopathy was assessed, and logistic regression was performed to determine the factors independently associated with diabetic retinopathy. Results Serum lipid abnormalities were significantly related to diabetic retinopathy severity. Triglycerides had the highest association with disease severity, and total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol also differed significantly between retinopathy grades. Hypercholesterolemia and hypertriglyceridemia were significant on univariate analysis, while hypertriglyceridemia was the only independent risk factor after multivariable adjustment. Conclusion Serum lipid abnormalities were associated with the severity of diabetic retinopathy in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Higher triglyceride and total cholesterol levels were observed across categories of diabetic retinopathy, and hypertriglyceridemia remained independently associated with the presence of diabetic retinopathy in multivariable analysis. These findings support further prospective studies to clarify the temporal and potentially modifiable relationship between dyslipidemia and diabetic retinopathy.