Retinal blood flow changes during pregnancy in women with diabetes.

Abstract

These data suggest that the hyperdynamic circulation present in pregnancy led to compensatory retinal vessel constriction (autoregulation) in the group without diabetes; this was largely absent in the patients with diabetes, with resultant increase in retinal blood flow associated with worsening retinopathy. This finding lends further support to the hypothesis that increased retinal blood flow is a pathogenic mechanism for diabetic retinopathy.