%0 Journal Article %T Retinopathy and microalbuminuria in type II diabetic patients %A Masoud R Manaviat %A Mohammad Afkhami %A Mohammad R Shoja %J BMC Ophthalmology %D 2004 %I BioMed Central %R 10.1186/1471-2415-4-9 %X In this cross-sectional study 590 patients suffering from diabetis type II were examined. Fundoscopy was performed by practising ophthalmologist. The ratio of urinary albumin to creatinine was assessed by clinitek 100 (Bayer corporation¨CUSA). HbA1C, height and weight also were measured.The overall prevalence of retinopathy was 39.3% (232 patients), 5.4% of which showed to be prolifrative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). The diabetic retinopathy had significant inverse correlation with body mass index (BMI) (P = 0.02). HbA1C was higher in patients with PDR (mean = 10.5%) than in patients with no signs of retinopathy (mean = 9.5%) and this difference was statistically significant (P = 0.001). The prevalence of microalbuminuria was 25.9% while 14.5% of the patients revealed to have macroalbuminuria. As expected, diabetic retinopathy and renal involvement were highly positively correlated. (P = 0.001).Microalbuminuria is associated with diabetic retinopathy in type II diabetic patients and is a reliable marker of retinopathy.Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common metabolic diseases in which either the hormone insulin is lacking or the body's cells are insensitive to insulin effects. The multi-system effects of diabetes such as retinopathy, nephropathy, neuropathy and cardiovascular diseases are considered important impinging on the public health.Diabetic retinopathy is one of the leading causes of blindness in the world that increases the chance of loosing the sight about 25 times higher compared to normal individuals [1]. Using new surgical and medical techniques, the incidence of blindness can be reduced up to 90% [2]. Decrease in visual acuity in diabetic retinopathy is either associated with maculopathy or proliferative complications of it. Many studies have been undergone to find out the precipitated factors of retinopathy such as duration and type of diabetes, hyperglycemia, pregnancy, change in hormonal level, genetics and microalbuminuria.The occurrence of micro %U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2415/4/9