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We compared the optical coherence tomography angiography parameters and retinal nerve fiber layer thickness among the different glucose groups.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The parafoveal vessel density and the temporal retinal nerve fiber layer thickness were lower (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u00a0&lt;\u20090.05) in the diabetic group than in the normal group. The diabetic group showed a higher acircularity index than the normal group. The normal group had the highest vessel density and the lowest acircularity index, followed by the no-diabetic retinopathy group and the mild non-proliferative retinopathy group, (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u00a0&lt;\u20090.001). Foveal vascular density and parafoveal vessel density decreased with an increase in HbA1c. There was a negative correlation between parafoveal vessel density in the deep retinal vascular layer and fasting blood glucose (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u00a0&lt;\u20090.01). The temporal retinal nerve fiber layer thickness decreased across the HbA1c level groups, and was positively correlated with the parafoveal vessel density in the superficial retinal vascular layer (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u00a0&lt;\u20090.05).\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This study shows that retinal microvasculopathy and neuropathy can be present in the absence of retinopathy. The vessel density of the deep retinal vascular layer was negatively correlated with fasting blood glucose, and the temporal retinal nerve fiber layer thickness was positively correlated with the vessel density of the superficial retinal vascular layer. These indicators are helpful for endocrinologists and ophthalmologists in detecting early diabetic retinal pathological lesions.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s12886-021-01975-7","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,17]],"date-time":"2021-05-17T09:02:54Z","timestamp":1621242174000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":19,"title":["Early neurovascular changes in the retina in preclinical diabetic retinopathy and its relation with blood glucose"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"21","author":[{"given":"Hui","family":"Li","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3318-1720","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xiaobing","family":"Yu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Bodi","family":"Zheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shan","family":"Ding","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhongqing","family":"Mu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lixin","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,17]]},"reference":[{"issue":"12","key":"1975_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e1221","DOI":"10.1016\/S2214-109X(17)30393-5","volume":"5","author":"SR Flaxman","year":"2017","unstructured":"Flaxman SR, Bourne RR, Resnikoff S, Ackland P, Braithwaite T, Cicinelli MV, et al. 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