Traditional environmental risk factors, such as glycemic control and duration of diabetes, failed to fully explain why some individuals remain protected while others progress to severe diabetic retinopathy.~Several studies suggest variations in diabetic retinopathy prevalence depending on racial background and genetic polymorphism.
A case-control study to assess the association between the risk of diabetic retinopathy in Egyptians and genetic polymorphism of both EPO and SLMAP genes.