%0 Journal Article
%T The non-linear relationship between serum albumin and diabetic retinopathy in type 2 diabetes mellitus: a secondary analysis based on a cross-sectional study.
%A Zeng GQ
%A Yao YF
%A Zhong JB
%A Zhang Y
%A Ye BK
%A Dou XY
%A Cai L
%J BMC Ophthalmol
%V 24
%N 1
%D 2024 Mar 1
%M 38429639
%F 2.086
%R 10.1186/s12886-024-03348-2
%X <B>BACKGROUND: </B>Most studies had shown a linear relationship between serum albumin (sALB) and the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy (DR). Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate whether their relationship is non-linear.<BR><B>METHODS: </B>We included 426 patients with type 2 diabetes who were hospitalized in Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital from December 2017 to November 2018. The outcome was the prevalence of DR. A two-piecewise logistics regression model was performed to identify the non-linear relationship between sALB and the prevalence of DR. The inflection point was calculated to determine the saturation effect through the maximum likelihood ratio and a recursive algorithm.<BR><B>RESULTS: </B>DR was diagnosed in 167 of 426 type 2 diabetic patients. The relationship between sALB and DR was nonlinear. When sALB was less than 38.10 g/L, a significant negative association was observed (OR = 0.82; 95% CI, 0.72-0.94; P = 0.0037), while no significant association was observed when sALB was greater than 38.10 g/L (OR = 1.12; 95% CI, 0.92-1.35; P = 0.2637).<BR><B>CONCLUSIONS: </B>The relationship between sALB and the prevalence of DR is non-linear. sALB is negatively associated with the prevalence of DR when sALB is less than 38.10 g/L. Our findings need to be confirmed by further prospective research.