Is diabetic retinopathy and kidney disease related to one another?

Yes : Bothare common complications of long term diabetes esp if control has been poor.

Sort of: Diabetes causes the smaller blood vessels in the body to malfunction (microvasculopathy). This can occur in the retina (diabetic retinopathy), kidney (diabetic nephropathy), or nerves such as in the feet (diabetic neuropathy).

Yes: Microalbuminuria which can be an indicator of kidney disease correlates closely with diabetic retinopathy. Close communication between your primary care doctor and the ophthalmologist is very important.

DM and complications: Retinopathy (r) and nephropathy (n) are seen in diabetic patients. They are both examples of microangiopathy (m) in diabetes. M is affected not only by glucose control, it is affected more by BP as you can see in the slide. Good control of both BP and glucose levels are keys to the retardation of both diabetic retinopathy and kidney disease.