To evaluate the relationship between the blood uric acid/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (UHR) and diabetes retinopathy (DR) in diabetic and pre-diabetic population.

A cross-sectional study. The data from a health survey from 2010 to 2011 on chronic diseases and risk factors in Changping District in Beijing was used in this study. Total of 2 507 pre-diabetic and diabetic patients who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were screened out in this study, included 1 212 men and 1 295 women. The patients were divided into DR group and non-DR (NDR) group according to whether DR was present or not. Independent sample t-test, chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression were used for case-control study to investigate whether there was independent correlation between UHR and DR. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn to evaluate the diagnostic value of UHR for DR.

There were gender differences in the relationship between uric acid related indicators and DR, no significant correlation was found in women. In males, the age, duration of diabetes,fasting blood glucose (FPG), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA_1c), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), triglyceride (TG), serum uric acid, UHR levels and the proportion of diabetes and hypertension history in DR group were all significantly higher than those in NDR group (all P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that SUR (OR=1.054, 95%CI: 1.004-1.106, P=0.033) and UHR (OR=1.391, 95%CI: 1.061-1.823, P=0.017) were the relative risk factors of DR. After adjusting for age, registered residence, education level, smoking, drinking, physical exercise, waist circumference, hypertension history, SBP, DBP, total cholesterol and other risk factors, UHR was still associated to DR [OR (95%CI): 1.438 (1.084-1.908), P=0.012]. The area under the ROC curve of UHR was 0.610 (95%CI: 0.514-0.707, P=0.030). When the cut-off value of UHR for predicting DR was 0.24, the sensitivity and specificity were the highest, which was 78.8% and 58.7%, respectively.

UHR is significantly correlated with the risk of DR in men with pre-diabetes and diabetes, but not in women. The risk of DR increases with the elevated level of UHR. UHR is helpful to diagnose DR and screen people with DR risk.

Serum uric acid; Diabetic retinopathy; Serum uric acid/high density lipoprotein cholesterol