Introduction. One of the most prognostic complications of diabetes is diabetic retinopathy (DR), which leads to blindness and disability in the working population. There are currently data on the role of dyslipidemia in the pathogenesis of DR. However, the pathogenetic mechanisms that may explain the relationship between the main indicators of lipid metabolism and the development of DR remain to be fully understood.

The purpose of the study: To investigate the features of lipid metabolism in patients with diabetic retinopathy.

Materials and methods. A clinical and laboratory examination of 130 patients with DR (70 patients who are insulin-dependent in group 1 and 60 non-insulin-dependent patients - in group 2). The average age of patients ranged from 20 to 55 years. The obtained laboratory parameters were compared with the control group, which included 30 healthy individuals. All patients underwent fasting venous blood collection in BD Vacutainer double coagulation activator tubes and K2-EDTA anticoagulant tubes. In all subjects, serum lipid metabolism was determined - total cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and atherogenicity index. Parametric data are presented as M ± m, because the distribution of data in the groups was normal, pairwise a posteriori comparison of groups was performed using the Newman-Keuls test using the software package STATISTICA 6.0 (StatSoft, USA).

Results. It is established that in patients with DR there is an imbalance in lipid metabolism. Patients in group 1 had significantly higher levels of triglycerides (3.23 ± 0.2 mmol / l), total cholesterol (6.47 ± 0.43 mmol / l), LDL (3.16 ± 0.15 mmol / l) and atherogenic index (3.13 ± 0.1 um.od) compared with the control group. The same vector of changes in the second group of examined patients, but the content of triglycerides (1.61 ± 0.1 mmol / l) is at the level of the control group. In both groups, the HDL content did not differ from the control value and was 1.61 ± 0.1 mmol / l and 1.46 ± 0.08 mmol / l, respectively.