Increased serum 12-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid levels are correlated with an increased risk of diabetic retinopathy in both children and adults with diabetes

Abstract

Abstract Purpose To investigate the relationship between serum 12-Hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (12-HETE) and diabetic retinopathy (DR) in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods Children from the Shanghai Children and Adolescent Diabetes Eye (SCADE) study and adults from the Shanghai Cohort Study of Diabetic Eye Disease (SCODE) were examined in 2021. Serum 12-HETE levels were detected and compared. Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze the relationship between 12-HETE and the rate of DR in diabetic patients. Results The child study included 4 patients with new-onset DR and 24 patients with T1DM without DR. In children with T1DM, the 12-HETE level was significantly higher in those with DR (P = 0.003). The adult study had two sets, for testing and verification. The test set included 28 patients with new-onset DR and 24 T2DM patients with a course of ≥ 20 years who had never developed DR. The verification set included 41 patients with DR, 50 patients without DR and 50 healthy controls. In the adult test set, the 12-HETE level was significantly higher in patients with DR than in those with T2DM without DR (P = 0.003). In the verification set, the 12-HETE level of patients with DR was significantly higher than that of patients without DR (P < 0.0001) and the healthy controls (P < 0.0001). Multivariate logistic regression indicated that 12-HETE was independently associated with DR in both children (odds ratio [OR] 1.06, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.00–1.13, P = 0.041) and adults (test set [OR 9.26, 95% CI 1.77–48.59, P = 0.008], verification set [OR 10.49, 95% CI 3.23–34.05, P < 0.001]). Conclusion Higher serum 12-HETE levels are positively correlated with an increased risk of DR in children with T1DM and adults with T2DM.