Patient characteristics at diabetes diagnosis and 6 years later according to visual acuity
| Visual acuity in best seeing eye at diabetes diagnosis | Visual acuity in best seeing eye 6 years after diabetes diagnosis | |||||||
| Blind (n=11) | MSVI (n=67) | Normal (n=1163) | P value* | Blind (n=21) | MSVI (n=56) | Normal (n=790) | P value* | |
| A. Background variables | ||||||||
| Male sex | 3 (27.3) | 28 (41.8) | 622 (53.5) | 0.042 | 7 (33.3) | 17 (30.4) | 422 (53.4) | 0.0009 |
| Age (years) | 78.7 (71.9–86.4) | 78.1 (72.6–83.0) | 64.4 (55.2–72.6) | <0.0001 | 79.7 (72.7–87.1) | 80.3 (75.6–85.8) | 67.1 (58.6–74.5) | <0.0001 |
| Diabetes duration (years) | – | – | – | – | 5.5 (4.9–5.8) | 5.5 (5.0–5.9) | 5.4 (4.9–6.0) | 0.67 |
| B. Sociodemographics | ||||||||
| Familial disposition to T2DM | 6 (75.0) | 20 (32.3) | 440 (41.7) | 0.052 | 7 (33.3) | 25 (47.2) | 305 (42.7) | 0.55 |
| Living alone | 9 (81.8) | 35 (53.9) | 340 (29.8) | <0.0001 | 11 (52.4) | 34 (60.7) | 192 (24.7) | <0.0001 |
| Basic education only | 9 (81.8) | 54 (87.1) | 872 (78.3) | 0.24 | 18 (85.7) | 46 (83.6) | 588 (77.4) | 0.38 |
| Residence | 0.33 | 0.82 | ||||||
| Copenhagen | 5 (50.0) | 31 (47.7) | 450 (40.4) | 7 (36.8) | 24 (45.3) | 292 (38.7) | ||
| Bigger towns | 5 (50.0) | 22 (33.9) | 403 (36.2) | 7 (36.8) | 20 (37.7) | 287 (38.1) | ||
| Countryside | 0 (0.0) | 12 (18.5) | 261 (23.4) | 5 (26.3) | 9 (17.0) | 175 (23.2) | ||
| C. Biochemical risk factors | ||||||||
| Diagnostic plasma glucose (mmol/L) | 13.1 (10.1–14.5) | 13.7 (10.3–18.8) | 13.7 (10.7–17.0) | 0.79 | ||||
| Hemoglobin A1c (fraction, %)† | 7.9 (7.7–9.1) | 8.5 (8.0–10.1) | 8.7 (7.8–9.9) | 0.43 | ||||
| Total cholesterol (mmol/L) | 5.7 (5.2–7.0) | 6.1 (5.2–6.6) | 6.2 (5.4–7.2) | 0.075 | 6.1 (5.6–6.8) | 5.8 (4.8–6.6) | 6.0 (5.3–6.9) | 0.12 |
| Fasting triglycerides (mmol/L) | 1.87 (1.40–3.07) | 2.03 (1.41–2.54) | 1.98 (1.40–2.90) | 0.79 | 2.19 (1.46–3.21) | 1.57 (1.17–2.47) | 1.77 (1.25–2.60) | 0.20 |
| Microalbuminuria | 6 (66.7) | 37 (56.9) | 453 (40.3) | 0.009 | 8 (42.1) | 23 (46.0) | 293 (38.8) | 0.58 |
| Serum creatinine (μmol/L) | 90 (83–107) | 97 (83–120) | 88 (79–100) | 0.0003 | 97 (80–121) | 95 (83–106) | 89 (80–102) | 0.11 |
| D. Clinical risk factors | ||||||||
| Height (cm) | 157 (150–170) | 163 (158–172) | 167 (161–174) | 0.0013 | 162 (158–170) | 161 (157–167) | 167 (162–174) | <0.0001 |
| Height, women (cm) | 155 (150–158) | 159 (155–163) | 161 (157–165) | 0.0040 | 160 (156–163) | 159 (156–162) | 162 (158–165) | 0.0025 |
| Height, men (cm) | 173 (170–173) | 174 (167–180) | 173 (168–178) | 0.93 | 174 (167–178) | 172 (169–177) | 173 (169–178) | 0.91 |
| Weight (kg) | 73.0 (53.4–81.0) | 73.5 (64.0–86.7) | 82.0 (72.0–92.8) | 0.0002 | 70.5 (60.5–82.6) | 70.7 (63.0–82.0) | 80.8 (70.3–91.5) | <0.0001 |
| Weight, women (kg) | 66.2 (52.6–75.2) | 67.5 (60.8–78.0) | 77.0 (67.2–89.0) | 0.0007 | 63.8 (58.0–78.5) | 66.0 (60.0–74.8) | 74.6 (66.0–87.0) | <0.0001 |
| Weight, men (kg) | 95.0 (80.0–100.0) | 81.3 (74.3–94.9) | 86.0 (77.3–96.0) | 0.36 | 84.3 (73.0–89.1) | 83.8 (75.3–90.6) | 85.0 (76.0–94.0) | 0.71 |
| Hypertension | 10 (90.9) | 58 (86.6) | 852 (73.3) | 0.024 | 15 (75.0) | 47 (87.0) | 559 (71.4) | 0.044 |
| Resting heart rate (bpm) | 76 (68–96) | 76 (72–84) | 76 (68–84) | 0.33 | 82 (72–88) | 72 (68–80) | 72 (68–80) | 0.023 |
| E. Lifestyle variables | ||||||||
| Smoking | 0.0013 | 0.10 | ||||||
| Never | 8 (80.0) | 23 (35.4) | 341 (29.9) | 10 (52.6) | 22 (44.9) | 245 (32.4) | ||
| Previous | 1 (10.0) | 29 (44.6) | 401 (35.1) | 5 (26.3) | 18 (36.7) | 276 (36.5) | ||
| Current | 1 (10.0) | 13 (20.0) | 400 (35.0) | 4 (21.1) | 9 (18.4) | 235 (31.1) | ||
| Physical activity | <0.0001 | <0.0001 | ||||||
| Low | 8 (72.7) | 30 (46.2) | 285 (25.0) | 12 (63.2) | 26 (53.1) | 189 (25.0) | ||
| Moderate | 3 (27.3) | 33 (50.7) | 778 (68.3) | 7 (36.8) | 22 (44.9) | 499 (66.0) | ||
| High | 0 (0.0) | 2 (3.1) | 77 (6.7) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (2.0) | 68 (9.0) | ||
| Structured personal diabetes care | 6 (54.6) | 38 (56.7) | 632 (54.3) | 0.93 | 17 (81.0) | 31 (55.4) | 446 (56.5) | 0.079 |
| F. Chronic conditions | ||||||||
| Peripheral neuropathy | 3 (27.3) | 20 (29.9) | 209 (18.2) | 0.048 | 9 (47.4) | 23 (44.2) | 178 (23.1) | 0.0002 |
| Cardiovascular disease | 7 (63.6) | 30 (45.5) | 330 (29.0) | 0.0009 | 6 (35.3) | 32 (62.8) | 232 (31.3) | <0.0001 |
| Cancer (former or present) | 0 (0.0) | 3 (4.6) | 68 (6.0) | 0.64 | 3 (14.3) | 10 (17.9) | 73 (9.2) | 0.091 |
| G. Eye pathologies | ||||||||
| Age-related macular degeneration | 7 (63.6) | 30 (44.8) | 117 (10.1) | <0.0001 | 12 (57.1) | 21 (37.5) | 67 (8.5) | <0.0001 |
| Cataract | 4 (36.4) | 55 (82.1) | 278 (24.2) | <0.0001 | 10 (55.6) | 39 (70.9) | 245 (32.0) | <0.0001 |
| Diabetic retinopathy | 0.0033 | 0.0023 | ||||||
| None | 8 (72.7) | 65 (97.0) | 1113 (96.0) | 14 (77.8) | 41 (73.2) | 690 (87.3) | ||
| Microaneurysms only | 1 (9.1) | 0 (0.0) | 13 (1.1) | 0 (0.0) | 5 (8.9) | 47 (6.0) | ||
| Further retinopathy | 2 (18.2) | 2 (3.0) | 34 (2.9) | 4 (22.2) | 10 (17.9) | 53 (6.7) | ||
| Other retinopathy | 1 (9.1) | 7 (10.5) | 104 (8.9) | 0.92 | 2 (9.5) | 0 (0.0) | 49 (6.2) | 0.13 |
| Eye pressure | 0.61 | 0.48 | ||||||
| <16 mm Hg | 5 (45.5) | 19 (32.2) | 345 (33.1) | 9 (50.0) | 15 (31.3) | 216 (32.1) | ||
| 16 to <20 mm Hg | 4 (36.4) | 29 (49.2) | 559 (53.7) | 8 (44.4) | 25 (52.1) | 371 (55.1) | ||
| ≥20 mm Hg | 2 (18.2) | 11 (18.6) | 138 (13.2) | 1 (5.6) | 8 (16.6) | 86 (12.8) | ||
Values are numbers (%) or medians (IQR).
*The characteristics are compared between the three categories with χ2 tests or Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, respectively.
†Reference range: 5.4%–7.4%.
MSVI, moderate to severe visual impairment; T2DM, type 2 diabetes mellitus.