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Lupus Anticoagulant Positivity in Diabetes With Retinal Vascular Disease

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To investigate whether lupus anticoagulant (LA) positivity, a frequently associated factor in a variety of thromboembolic events, might be relevant to the pathogenesis of retinal vascular disease in diabetes mellitus. Materials and Methods: Eighty-five diabetic patients (44 type 1 and 41 type 2) were examined for total blood counts, screening coagulogram and LA. Results: LA was positive in 20.5% of patients with type 1 diabetes and in 33.3% with patients of type 1 diabetes and retinopathy, whereas, LA was positive in only 7.3% of patients with type 2 diabetes and in 6.4% of them with retinopathy. Conclusion: These findings suggest that LA positivity might be con sidered as an additional risk factor in the pathogenesis of microvascular disease in type 1 diabetes.

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