الفهرس 
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Abstract
Severe forms of diabetic retinopathy are usually associated with risk factors such as poor control, long duration of diabetes mellitus and hypertension. However, these known risk factors do not fully explain the development and progression of diabetic retinopathy. The theory that the patient’s HLA typing may be a factor has been proposed but the reports are inconclusive. Materials and Method: We performed a prospective study of 350 patients attending the outpatient clinic of Mansoura University Hospitals examining them for presence or absence of diabetic retinopathy. Those patients with hypertension, renal dysfunction, and other ophthalmic diseases were excluded from the study. Further analysis of the remaining 97 patients according to the duration of diabetes, glucose control (HbA1c), severity of retinopathy and HLA-DR typing was done. Results: Duration was highly assoccited with severe form of retinopathy . Insulin therapy was more associated with PDR than non - insulin therapy. Patients with short duration (5.47+3.17 years) and relatively lower HbA1c (6.35+1.16 % range from 4.7 % to 8.5 %) were analyzed. The frequency of HLA-DR5 was higher in patients in this group showing a more aggressive form of diabetic retinopathy (P value 0.0068 using Mantel-Haenszel Chi-Square). HLA- DR5 correlated with a higher degree of severity of retinopathy despite low HbA1c and short disease duration. Patients with long duration (14.3+4.96 years) and relatively higher HbA1c (7.01+1.48 % range from 5.2% to 9.9%) were analyzed. The frequency of HLA-DR2 was higher in patients in this group showing a milder form of retinopathy (P value 0.0055 using Mantel-Haenszel Chi-Square). HLA- DR2 correlated with a milder degree of retinopathy despite high HbA1c and long duration.