Cognitive impairment and depression in patients with diabetic retinopathy

Abstract

Background Several reports have shown that cognitive impairment risk is increased in diabetes mellitus by about 40%. Abnormalities in the retinal vascular cytoarchitecture resulting from diabetes might be responsible for cognitive impairment as the blood-brain and blood-retinal barriers are similar Such potential relationship between abnormalities in the retinal vascular structure and cognitive impairment is highly valuable in predicting the risk for cognitive impairment in diabetes. Aim of the work This study aims to examine the association between diabetic retinopathy and cognitive impairment in diabetic patients both type 1 and type 2. Patients and methods A total of 200 patients with diabetes were selected (120 diabetic patients with retinopathy, 46 diabetic nonretinopathy patients, and 34 newly diagnosed diabetic patients). All patients were assessed using retinal photography, Hamilton depression rating scale, mini-mental state examination, and trail making test. Results Cognitive impairment was significantly higher in individuals with diabetic retinopathy when compared with individuals without retinopathy and newly diagnosed diabetes mellitus. Patients with diabetic retinopathy were significantly more severely depressed relative to other groups of patients. Conclusion Our results revealed that diabetic retinopathy was associated with cognitive impairment. However, the degree of retinopathy did not appear to have significant correlation with the degree of cognitive impairment.