Correlation between poor visual prognosis biomarkers by optical coherence tomography in diabetic macular edema and the level of albuminuria in patients with Chronic Kidney Disease.

Objective: To determine the correlation of Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) biomarkers in diabetic macular edema with the level of albuminuria in patients with chronic kidney disease.

Design: This is a retrospective, observational, cross- sectional, and analytical study.

Participants: All patients over 18 years of age with diabetic macular edema who attended the retina department of the Ophthalmology service and met the inclusion criteria between March 2021 and August 2022.

Methods: Data collection was carried out by reviewing the records of patients diagnosed with diabetic macular edema. Patients were divided based on 3 categories of albuminuria. The OCT images of the affected eye were collected and analyzed, and the corresponding subdivision was made depending on the presence of biomarkers of poor visual prognosis.

Results: Chi-square goodness-of-fit tests were performed to analyze whether the proportion of biomarkers for each category of albuminuria was related to each level of albuminuria. A direct correlation was found between the lack of integrity of the outer retina layers and the severity of albuminuria.

Conclusions: OCT can be a valuable tool for the detection of kidney damage when considering the relationship of some biomarkers with the presence of albuminuria, especially the disruption of the outer retina layers, which can be an OCT biomarker of advanced kidney disease.