CORRELATION BETWEEN SERUM MELATONIN LEVEL AND OTHER INDICATORS WITH STAGES OF DIABETIC RETINOPATHY

Abstract

Purpose: Diabetic retinopathy is considered the ghost cause of vision deterioration; it is attributed to elevated oxidative stress. Antioxidants, like melatonin, were found to be affected indiabetic retinopathy. In the present paper, we aim to explore melatonin levels in various stages ofdiabetic retinopathy. Method: Patients with diabetic retinopathy were recruited and divided into 3groups (non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR), proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), andadvanced diabetic eye disease). One control group was recruited (diabetics without diabeticretinopathy). Each participant was subjected to full ophthalmological examination, internal medicine evaluation, fluorescein angiography F/A, as well as optical coherence tomography (OCT) toclassify the stage of diabetic retinopathy. The laboratory evaluation of melatonin, bilirubin, aspartate transferase AST, alanine transferase ALT, fasting plasma glucose FBG, hemoglobin A1cHA1c, and lipid profile were done. Data were collected and analyzed. Results: Each group < br />includes 60 participants. We found no different sex distribution in the four groups as (P value=0.77), age in the four groups was as follows 58.35±8.56, 55.77±14.43, 59.3±10.73, 60.98±7.60 years with (P =0.06). For diabetes-associated variables like duration, fasting glucoselevels, HA1c, and medications (insulin or oral hypoglycemic), we found this result; increasedduration of diabetes with raised levels of FBG, HA1C, and insulin treatment were linked withsevere diabetic retinopathy affection (P value <0.0001). When assessing the plasma melatoninlevels, the mean melatonin levels were decreased significantly with increased severity of diabeticretinopathy (86.04 ± 2.71, 73.05 ± 6.91, 25.82 ± 2.89, 24.28 ± 2.37 pg/ml) in the studied groupsNDR, NPDR, PDR and advanced diabetic retinopathy with (P-value < 0.0001). Decreasedmelatonin could be a risk factor for diabetic retinopathy. As regards total bilirubin, its mean valuesdecreased significantly with increasing severity of DR (P-value < 0.0001). Conclusion: Thereis a relation between the levels of serum melatonin and the severity of diabetic retinopathy.