The Ratio of Fibrinogen to Albumin is Related to the Occurrence of Retinopathy in Type 2 Diabetic Patients

PURPOSE: Type 2 diabetic retinopathy is a long-term chronic inflammatory disease. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between fibrinogen to albumin ratio (FAR) and retinopathy in type 2 diabetic patients. METHODS: This was a retrospective study that included 500 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and were divided into non-diabetic retinopathy group (NDR, n=297) and diabetic retinopathy group (DR, n=203) according to fundus examination findings, and the DR group was further divided into non-proliferative retinopathy group (NPDR, n=182) and proliferative retinopathy group (PDR, n=21). Baseline data of patients were collected, and the fibrinogen to albumin ratio (FAR) and neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) were calculated to analyze the correlation between FAR and NLR and type 2 diabetic retinopathy. RESULTS: The FAR and NLR were significantly higher in the DR group compared with the NDR group (both P < 0.001). Spearman correlation analysis showed that FAR was positively correlated with NLR and DR (P < 0.05). As the FAR quartile increased, the prevalence of DR increased (14.8%, 16.7%, 25.1%, and 43.30%, respectively; P < 0.05). Multifactorial logistic regression analysis showed that FAR, diabetic course, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) were risk factors for the development of DR in patients with T2DM. The area under the ROC curve for FAR to predict DR progression was 0.708, with an optimal critical value of 7.04, and the area under the ROC curve for diabetes duration and SBP to predict DR was 0.705 and 0.588, respectively. CONCLUSION: Our findings show for the first time that FAR is an independent risk factor for assessing DR in patients with type 2 diabetes.