Peripheral Lesions Identified on Ultrawide Field Imaging Predict Increased Risk of Diabetic Retinopathy Progression over 4 Years.

Objective: To determine whether peripheral diabetic retinopathy (DR) lesions identified on ultrawide field (UWF) imaging are associated with increased DR progression.

Design: Prospective, longitudinal cohort.

Participants: Two hundred eyes of 100 participants previously enrolled in a comparative instrument validation study.

Vascular endothelial growth factor gene polymorphisms and vitreous proteome changes in diabetic retinopathy.

Ischemic retinal diseases, particularly diabetic retinopathy, continue to significantly impact vision and remain a leading cause of vision loss in working-aged adults. Identifying specific genetic risk factors for ischemic-driven pathways that increase susceptibility to developing diabetic retinopathy is a priority to allow development of accurate risk assessment algorithms, employ earlier intervention, and design novel treatment strategies to reduce the associated visual complications. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the VEGF gene have been shown to influence the expression of the VEGF protein.