Clinical Predictors of Diabetic Retinopathy Progression; A Systematic Review.

OBJECTIVE: The study aims to review the published clinical predictors of Diabetic Retinopathy Progression and discuss their level of clinical significance.

METHODS: The data for systematic review has been gathered from the studies that were searched through scholarly platforms and several libraries. These studies discussed the clinical predictors of Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) progression. The common keywords included in the review were diabetic retinopathy, anemia, systolic blood pressure, dyslipidemia, genetics and risk factors.

RESULTS: Diabetic Retinopathy is associated with visual impairments and blindness, which significantly affects the patients' quality of life. The factors leading to progression of diabetic retinopathy include hypertension, poor glycemic condition, duration of diabetes, dyslipidemia, and microalbuminuria are known as the major risk factors for the development of diabetic retinopathy. Considering the development of diabetic peripheral neuropathy, the increased aortic stiffness is considered as a significant prognostic marker.

CONCLUSION: Certain clinical predictors are of valuable importance to predict those diabetics whom are at higher risk to develop diabetic retinopathy and could help clinicians and public health planners to develop a risk-based screening strategy for such prevalent condition.