Risk factors for recurrent vitreous haemorrhage in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy.

Abstract Background : To investigate which demographic and clinical factors are related to the presence of recurrent vitreous haemorrhage in a population of diabetic patients diagnosed with proliferative diabetic retinopathy [PDR]. Methods: This was a retrospective review-based study. We studied 285 eyes from 165 patients with PDR. We recorded age, gender, type of diabetes mellitus [DM] , type of DM treatment, history of hypertension and body mass index, panretinal photocoagulation status and the presence of concomitant anticoagulant or antiplatelet treatment. We evaluated the mean glycosylated haemoglobin, mean haemoglobin, the urine albumin to creatinine ratio and the estimated glomerular filtration rate in each patient. In addition, we recorded the smoking history [pack-years] and the systemic complications related to DM. We used the logistic regression analysis to study which independent variables were significantly related to the presence of recurrent vitreous haemorrhage. Results: In total, 183 eyes [64%] with PDR had vitreous haemorrhage, of which 68 [37%] underwent recurrent vitreous haemorrhage. In our study, tobacco consumption [OR= 1.21, 95% CI, 1.10- 1.32, P <0.001], duration of diabetes [OR= 1.03, 95% CI, 1.0-1 .07 P = 0.04] and haemoglobin level [OR= -0.24 , 95% CI, -0.16, -0.06 , P <0 .001] had an independently significant associaton with recurrent vitreous haemorrhage. There was a positive correlation between pack-years consumed and the number of vitreous haemorrhages [r=0.339; p<0.001]. In addition, patients with diabetic polineuropathy, myocardial infarction and ischemia in lower limbs had more vitreous haemorrhage events [p<0.001]. Conclusion s : In our study, those patients with PDR who smoked, with longer duration of their diabetes, anaemia and that had previously suffered from cardiovascular events were more prone to suffer from recurrent vitreous haemorrhage.