Carotid intima-media thickness seems not to correlate with the severity of diabetic retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy and vascular complications of diabetes have been studied for decades, with the aim of defining better their pathogenesis and time profile. The severity of diabetic retinopathy has clear consequences on the quality of life of patients, and trying to find correlates in other vascular territories will help a better understanding of the issue and early as well as more efficacious interventions. We tried to define the association between carotid intima-media thickness with the severity of diabetic retinopathy, since the first parameter has been widely considered as a reliable marker of the progression of atherosclerosis. However, our findings suggest that the value of carotid intima-media thickness although statistically higher in patients suffering from diabetic retinopathy compared to controls, was not correlated with the severity of the retinopathy itself.