Indian Journal of Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology 2023;9(2):214–220 Content available at: https://www.ipinnovative.com/open-access-journals Indian Journal of Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology Journal homepage: www.ijceo.org Original Research Article Prevalence of microalbuminuria in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus having diabetic retinopathy in a tertiary care hospital in eastern India: A cross-sectional study Subhasree Dutta 1 , Kumaresh Chandra Sarkar 2 , Swati Bhattacharya 3 , Piyali Sarkar 1, * 1 Dept. of Ophthalmology, Calcutta National Medical College, Kolkata, West Bengal, India 2 Dept. of Ophthalmology, Maharaja Jitendra Narayan Medical College & Hospital, Cooch Behar, West Bengal, India 3 Dept. of Biochemistry, Calcutta National Medical College, Kolkata, West Bengal, India ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 02-02-2023 Accepted 11-04-2023 Available online 30-06-2023 Keywords: Diabetic retinopathy Microalbuminuria Type 2 diabetes mellitus ABSTRACT Background: Diabetic retinopathy is a common microvascular complication of diabetes mellitus and one of the leading causes of acquired blindness. Microalbuminuria reflects a pathophysiological state of vascular dysfunction and organ damage. It is noticed that a rise in urinary albumin excretion is seen in the early phase of diabetic retinopathy. The concordance of microalbuminuria and diabetic retinopathy has been well reported in type 1 diabetes; however, for type 2 diabetes, there is a paucity of data. Objective: To estimate the prevalence of microalbuminuria in diabetic retinopathy patients with type 2 diabetes attending the out-patient department (OPD) in a tertiary care center in eastern India and also to find out any association between microalbuminuria and severity of diabetic retinopathy. Material and Methods: The study included 200 patients with type 2 diabetic patients having diabetic retinopathy. The study populations were selected by thorough clinical examination and as per inclusion–exclusion criteria. Estimation of urinary albumin and albumin creatinine ratio was done by using Konelab 20 Autoanalyzer machine by the immunoturbidimetry method. Diabetic retinopathy was classified as per the International Clinical Diabetic Retinopathy Severity Scales into mild, moderate, severe, very severe non-proliferative as well as proliferative diabetic retinopathy. Data were analyzed with ratio, rate, percentage, and statistical significance was considered if p<0.5. Results: The prevalence of microalbuminuria was found in 36% (72 patients). The highest number of patients (88.24%) with microalbuminuria was found in severe NPDR. 93.06% of patients with microalbuminuria had clinically significant macular edema. A statistically significant correlation (p<0.001) was found between microalbuminuria and the degree of retinopathy in mild, moderate, and severe NPDR. Conclusion: A significant correlation was found between urinary microalbumin and the severity of diabetic retinopathy. This is an Open Access (OA) journal, and articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms. For reprints contact: reprint@ipinnovative.com 1. Introduction Diabetic retinopathy is a common microvascular complication of diabetes mellitus and one of the leading causes of acquired blindness. 1 Around 347 million people * Corresponding author. E-mail address: drpsar@yahoo.co.in (P. Sarkar). worldwide are diagnosed with diabetes as per an estimate by World Health Organization in 2014. 2 According to International Diabetic Federation report, India has 72.9 million diabetics which is almost 10.4% of population. Around 50% patients with type 1 diabetes and 30% with type 2 diabetes develop vision threatening retinal changes over time. 3 Duration of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, https://doi.org/10.18231/j.ijceo.2023.041 2395-1443/© 2023 Innovative Publication, All rights reserved. 214