PURPOSE: Diabetic dermopathy is the most frequent cutaneous marker of diabetes mellitus. Although diabetic dermopathy and diabetic retinopathy are both considered as manifestations of diabetic microangiopathy, there are only few reports in the literature regarding their possible association. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between diabetic dermopathy and diabetic retinopathy and to determine the prevalence and the associated risk factors for diabetic retinopathy in type 2 diabetes patients from the Outpatient Diabetic Clinic of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Passo Fundo and Teaching Hospital Sao Vicente de Paulo. METHODS: Cross sectional study was performed in 90 type 2 diabetes mellitus patients who attend to the outpatient diabetic clinic, consecutively. Physical, dermatological and ophthalmologic evaluations were performed in all the patients. RESULTS: The prevalence of diabetic dermopathy was 16,6% (n = 15) and diabetic retinopathy was 34,4% (n = 31); 67,8% of those (n = 21) consisted of non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy and 32,2% (n = 10) of proliferative diabetic retinopathy. The duration of the disease greater than 10 years (p = 0,001) and age over 50 years (p = 0,014) were associated to retinopathy, but no association was found with elevated levels of HbA1c (p = 0,5) and fasting plasma glucose of 126 or higher (p = 0,8). The frequency of diabetic retinopathy in patients with diabetic dermopathy was not higher than in patients without dermopathy (7,7%, 7 cases, p = 0,586). There was no statistically significant association between diabetic retinopathy and diabetic dermopathy. CONCLUSION: No association between diabetic dermopathy and diabetic retinopathy in this group of type 2 diabetes patients was found. The presence of diabetic retinopathy was associated to the duration of the disease and the advanced age of the patients.
Diabetes mellitus, type 2; Diabetes complications; Diabetic retinopathy; Skin diseases; Prevalence
