Correlation of anterior ocular-segment biometry with glycated hemoglobin level in type-2 diabetic patients

BackgroundDiabetic retinopathy (DR), nephropathy, and peripheral neuropathy are the common complications of diabetes mellitus. DR is one of the causes of blindness worldwide. Although diabetic-eye disease is often thought to refer merely to the retina, the anterior segment of the eye has also been shown to be affected in diabetes.ObjectiveTo compare the anterior ocular-segment biometry among type-2 diabetes mellitus with no DR, nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR), and evaluate the correlation of anterior ocular-segment biometry with glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) level.Patients and methodsA cross-sectional study was conducted on 48 patients. The patients were randomly selected from the Ophthalmology Outpatient Clinic of Menoufia University Hospital. Also, they were divided into group I that included 16 diabetic patients with no DR group, group II included 16 diabetic patients with NPDR group, and group III included 16 healthy participants of comparable age and sex. The results were collected, tabulated, and statistically analyzed. Descriptive statistics included percentage (%), mean, SD, range, and median, and analytic statistics included χ2 test, Student's t test, Spearman correlation, Mann–Whitney test, and analysis of variance (F).ResultsNumbers of angle-opening distance and anterior-chamber angle were significantly increased among diabetic patients with no DR group (524.69 ± 41.92, 29.75 ± 3.28) than diabetic patients with NPDR group (491.06 ± 40.80, 27.50 ± 2.53) and control group (479.00 ± 49.55, 26.94 ± 2.08). Also, central corneal thickness (CCT) was significantly increased among diabetic patients with the NPDR group (561.50 ± 14.93) than diabetic patients with no DR group (505.31 ± 46.15) and control groups (452.06 ± 32.14) (P > 0.05). There were significant positive correlations between HbA1c with age, HbA1c%, CCT, and number of angle-opening distance.ConclusionDiabetic patients appear to have significantly thicker CCT, regardless of retinopathy status, whereas anterior-chamber width was significantly narrower in diabetics with the NPDR group compared with a diabetic with no DR. Development of new noninvasive diagnostic technologies has provided a better understanding of corneal-tissue changes related to diabetes.