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Abstract
Aim: To examine how often diabetic retinopathy (DR) and age-related macular degeneration (AMD) occur together, using five years of data from a university hospital.
Methods: We reviewed 1,739 patients with diabetes mellitus examined between 2023 and 2025. DR and AMD status were documented alongside patients' clinical characteristics.
Results: AMD was diagnosed in 193 of the 1950 patients (10.5%). Of these, 121 had no sign of DR and 72 had DR. Among patients with DR, dry AMD was most frequent in mild non-proliferative DR (NPDR) at 11.5%, compared with 4.5% in moderate NPDR, 4.2% in severe NPDR, and 2.4% in proliferative DR (PDR). Neovascular AMD showed a similar pattern: 3% in mild NPDR, 1.9% in moderate NPDR, 1% in severe NPDR, and 1.8% in PDR. The more severe the DR, the less common AMD was, and this relationship was statistically significant. Among patients with diabetic macular edema (DME), 12 (4.6%) had dry AMD and nine (3.4%) had neovascular AMD.
Conclusions: Over five years, AMD prevalence was 12% in patients with DR and 11.5% in diabetic patients without DR. The two diseases therefore seldom occur together, which suggests that DR may protect against the development of AMD.