Abstract
Diabetic retinopathy worsens during pregnancy. To elucidate the worsening factor, plasma β-thromboglobulin (β-TG) concentrations were determined in 19 pregnant diabetic women, 76 pregnant nondiabetic women, 57 nonpregnant diabetic women, and 35 nonpregnant nondiabetic women. The results were analyzed in relation to the stage of retinopathy.
The plasma jS-TG concentrations in the pregnant nondiabetic women and nonpregnant nondiabetic women were 33.4ng/ml (95% confidence interval 24.7-45.2ng/ml) and 24.4 ng/ml (20.7-28.7ng/ml), respectively. The plasma β-TG concentrations in the pregnant nondiabetic women were significantly higher than those in the nonpregnant nondiabetic women. The plasma β-TG concentrations in the pregnant diabetic women and nonpregnant diabetic women were 54.9 ng/ml (44.7-67.4 ng/ml) and 71.2 ng/ml (57.8-87.9 ng/ml), respectively. The plasma β-TG concentrations in both these types of women were significantly higher than those in the nondiabetic women and nonpregnant nondiabetic women. There was no significant difference between the plasma β-TG concentrations in the pregnant diabetic women and nonpregnant diabetic women, but there was a significant difference between the plasma β-TG concentrations in the pregnant diabetic women and nonpregnant diabetic women who had almost the same stage of diabetic retinopathy.
Throughout all stages of pregnancy and after delivery, there was no significant difference in the plasma β-TG concentrations in the nondiabetic women and pregnant diabetic women. The plasma β-TG concentrations in the nonpregnant diabetic women tended to be the highest in the group with proliferative retinopathy and to be higher in the group with simple retinopathy compared to the group without retinopathy. The plasma β-TG concentratios in the nonpregnant diabetic women with proliferative retinopathy were significantly higher than those in the pregnant nondiabetic women without retinopathy. During pregnancy, there was no significant difference between the plasma β-TG concentrations in the pregnant diabetic women with progressive retinopathy and those in the pregnant diabetic women without progressive retinopathy.
