To estimate the prevalence of diabetic macular edema, both clinically significant macular edema (CSME) and nonclinically significant macular edema (non-CSME), and report the associations of dyslipidemia on them.

A population-based cross-sectional study in India.

After all exclusions, 1414 subjects with diabetes underwent an examination.

The CSME was defined according to the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) guidelines; stereo digital fundus pairs were studied. The dyslipidemia cases were classified according to the National Cholesterol Education Program–Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATP III).

Prevalence of CSME and non-CSME and association of serum lipids with them.

The prevalence was 31.76% (95% confidence interval [CI], 26.04–37.47) for overall diabetic macular edema, 25.49% (95% Ci, 20.14–30.84) for non-CSME, and 6.27% (95% Ci, 3.29–9.24) for CSME. Univariate analysis identified macroalbuminuria and microalbuminuria, poor glycemic control, high total serum cholesterol, high serum low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and high serum non–high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol related to non-CSME and CSME (trend chi-square test, P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis (after adjusting variables such as age, gender, body mass index, duration, smoking, hypertension, glycosylated hemoglobin, macroalbuminuria and microalbuminuria, and insulin use) revealed high serum LDL cholesterol (odds ratio [OR], 2.72], high serum non-HDL cholesterol (OR, 1.99), and high cholesterol ratio (OR, 3.08) related to non-CSME, and poor glycemic control (OR, 8.06), microalbuminuria (OR, 14.23), and high serum total cholesterol (OR, 9.09) related to CSME.

One third of the subjects had diabetic macular edema, and 6% of them showed evidence of CSME necessitating laser photocoagulation. FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE(S): The author(s) have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article.