Diabetic retinopathy predicts cardiovascular mortality in diabetes: a meta-analysis

Abstract Background The prognostic significance of diabetic retinopathy (DR) for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) remained unclear. Therefore, we performed this meta-analysis to assess whether DR predicted CVD mortality in diabetic patients. Methods We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane Library for cohort studies reporting the association of DR and CVD mortality. Then we pooled the data for analysis. Results After screening the literature, 10 eligible studies with 11,239 diabetic subjects were finally included in quantitative synthesis. The pooled risk ratio (RR) of DR, mild DR, and severe DR for CVD mortality was 1.83 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.42, 2.36; p 1; all P values