Evaluation of hypertensive retinopathy in patients of essential hypertension with high serum lipids

Purpose: To evaluate the role of hyperlipidemia on fundus changes in hypertensive patients and to correlate the above findings with components of lipid profile. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out in 100 patients who were diagnosed to have systemic hypertension. Patients suffering from diabetes, high myopia, patients with hazy ocular media, and other retinal vascular disorders were excluded from the study. A detailed evaluation of patients' hypertensive status was carried out by a physician after ruling out secondary causes of hypertension. Their detailed ophthalmological examination was carried out. All the patients were investigated for fasting serum lipid profile. Results: Out of the 100 patients with essential hypertension, 69 (69%) had retinopathy and the remaining 31 (31%) subjects having retinopathy were mainly concentrated in the 6 th decade (69.70%), increasing thereafter up to 83.78% who were over 60 years of age. This shows the increasing prevalence of hypertensive retinopathy with increasing age. No sex preponderance toward developing retinopathy was found in this study (o P P P P Conclusion: This study proved a definite association between serum lipid parameters and the prevalence of hypertensive retinopathy.