{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,12]],"date-time":"2025-10-12T01:52:27Z","timestamp":1760233947805,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,5]],"date-time":"2021-03-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1614902400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Medicina"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background and Objectives: In patients with diabetes mellitus (DM), the neural retina is starting to degenerate before the development of vascular lesions. Our purpose was to investigate the correlation between the retinal arterial morphometric parameters and structural neurodegeneration in patients with type 2 DM with no or mild diabetic retinopathy (DR). Materials and Methods: This is a prospective study including 53 eyes of patients with type 2 DM and 32 eyes of healthy controls. Based on SD-OCT (spectral domain\u2014optical coherence tomography) images, using a micro-densitometry method, we measured the outer and luminal diameter of retinal arteries and calculated the AWT (arterial wall thickness), WLR (wall-to-lumen ratio), and WCSA (wall cross-sectional area). GCL (ganglion cell layer) and RNFL (retinal nerve fiber layer) thickness were analyzed in correlation with the retinal arterial morphometric parameters mentioned above. Results: GCL was thinner in the inner quadrants in the NDR (no DR) group compared to controls (p &lt; 0.05). RAOD (retinal artery outer diameter), RALD (retinal artery lumen diameter), AWT, WLR, and WCSA were similar between groups. A regression model considering age, gender, duration of DM, and HbA1C was carried out. Central GCL thickness was correlated positively with RAOD (coefficient 0.360 per \u00b5m, p = 0.011), RALD (coefficient 0.283 per \u00b5m, p = 0.050), AWT (coefficient 0.304 per \u00b5m, p = 0.029), and WCSA (coefficient 3.90 per \u00b5m, p = 0.005). Duration of DM was positively correlated with WCSA (coefficient 0.311 per one year duration of diabetes, p = 0.043). Conclusions: Significant GCL thinning in the inner quadrants preceded the morphological retinal arterial morphometric changes, supporting the neurodegeneration as primary pathogenic mechanism in DR.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/medicina57030244","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,5]],"date-time":"2021-03-05T11:46:09Z","timestamp":1614944769000},"page":"244","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Correlations between Retinal Arterial Morphometric Parameters and Neurodegeneration in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus with No or Mild Diabetic Retinopathy"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"57","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4301-7112","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ioana","family":"Damian","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, \u201cIuliu Ha\u021bieganu\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 8 V. Babes str., 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania"},{"name":"Medical Doctoral School, University of Oradea, 1 Universitatii Str., 410087 Oradea, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7886-2044","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Simona Delia","family":"Nicoar\u0103","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, \u201cIuliu Ha\u021bieganu\u201d University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 8 V. Babes str., 400012 Cluj-Napoca, Romania"},{"name":"Department of Ophthalmology, Emergency County Hospital Cluj, 3\u20135 Clinicilor Str., 400006 Cluj-Napoca, Romania"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,3,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"10","DOI":"10.1159\/000444396","article-title":"Correlation between Retinal Vessel Calibre and Neurodegeneration in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in the European Consortium for the Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy (EUROCONDOR)","volume":"56","author":"Hansen","year":"2016","journal-title":"Ophthalmic Res."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"271","DOI":"10.1016\/j.diabres.2018.02.023","article-title":"IDF Diabetes Atlas: Global estimates of diabetes prevalence for 2017 and projections for 2045","volume":"138","author":"Cho","year":"2018","journal-title":"Diabetes Res. Clin. 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