Published online Feb 15, 2021. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v12.i2.138
Peer-review started: August 2, 2020
First decision: November 18, 2020
Revised: November 26, 2020
Accepted: December 10, 2020
Article in press: December 10, 2020
Published online: February 15, 2021
Processing time: 174 Days and 1.4 Hours
Melatonin is reported to be related to diabetes mellitus (DM) risk; however, the effect of melatonin on diabetic retinopathy (DR) risk remains unclear.
The aim of this study was to determine the effect of melatonin on DR risk.
A hospital-based case-control study was conducted from January 2020 to June 2020. DR was assessed using the Diabetic Retinopathy preferred practice pattern (PPP)-updated 2019 criteria. The participants were divided into the DM cases without DR (NDR) group, non-proliferative DR (NPDR) group and proliferative DR (PDR) group. Plasma melatonin concentration was detected with the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. The relationship between plasma melatonin concentration and DR risk as well as severity was assessed.
It was found that plasma melatonin was 72.83 ± 16.25, 60.38 ± 13.43, 44.48 ± 10.30 and 44.69 ± 8.95 pg/mL in healthy controls, NDR group, NPDR and PDR group, respectively. In addition, it was found that plasma melatonin could be used as a potential diagnostic biomarker for DR (AUC = 0.893, P < 0.001). There was a significant positive relationship between total bilirubin and melatonin content (P < 0.001) based on the correlation assay. Significant associations between total bilirubin and melatonin content were also detected in the NPDR (R2 = 0.360, P < 0.001) and PDR (R2 = 0.183, P < 0.001) groups.
The data obtained in this study demonstrated that plasma melatonin concen-tration was decreased in DR cases and could be used as a sensitive and specific marker for the diagnosis of DR. A significant positive relationship between total bilirubin and melatonin was detected. More related studies are required to understand the role of melatonin in DR.
Core Tip: Melatonin is reported to be related to diabetes mellitus risk; however, the effect of melatonin on diabetic retinopathy (DR) risk remains unclear. The data obtained in this study demonstrated that plasma melatonin concentration was decreased in DR cases and could be used as a sensitive and specific marker for the diagnosis of DR. A significant positive relationship between total bilirubin and melatonin was detected. More related studies are required to understand the role of melatonin in DR.