Systemic Disease

Type 2 Diabetes, Hypertension, Associated With Thinner Retinal Layers

Jessica Nye, PhD
|
Ophthalmology office.
Ophthalmology office. Masked patient and doctor – Covid 19. Scan of the retina, an examination that allows you to precisely visualize the different parts of the eye. This imaging makes it possible to observe the retina in order to detect, for example, a retinal uplift with edema or a diabetic retinopathy. It is used to monitor wet AMD about every two months and complements the fundus to see if an injection of treatment is needed. OCT is also used to examine the optic nerve, and therefore screen for or monitor glaucoma. (Photo by: Pascal Bachelet/BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
The duration of either condition is negatively associated with pRNFL thickness.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is negatively associated with peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) thickness, according to findings published in Diabetes. The study also found that patients with both T2DM and hypertension (HTN) had a thinner pRNFL than healthy individuals or those with T2DM alone.

This retrospective, cross-sectional study involved 325 eyes of 325 patients who were assessed for retinal abnormalities between 2017 and 2020. Researchers obtained measurements of the pRNFL via optical coherence tomography. All participants were assigned to 1 of 3 groups; T2DM (n=126), T2DM and HTN (n=56), and a healthy control group (n=143). Mean ages were 58±10.3, 64.8±7.8, and 59.3±9.0 years (P =.001); best corrected visual acuity was -0.002±0.061, 0.003±0.053, and -0.019±0.060 logMAR (P =.018); and men comprised 43.7%, 64.3%, and 42.0% of the groups, respectively. Glycated hemoglobin and diabetes duration did not differ significantly between the 2 T2DM cohorts.

Researchers observed significantly different pRNFL thicknesses (P =.005) between the groups. The control group had the thickest pRNFL (mean, 96.1±7.7 μm), followed by T2DM (mean, 94.4±8.6 μm), and lastly the T2DM-HTN group (mean, 91.6±9.6 μm). T2DM-HTN had thinner pRNFL than T2DM (P =.002) and T2DM had thinner pRNFL than the controls (P =.031).

No differences were observed in the superior and nasal regions when stratified by sector. However, the T2DM-HTN group had the thinnest layers, followed by T2DM and controls in the inferior (mean, 114.9 vs 123.9 vs 124.7 µm; P =.003) and temporal (mean, 67.4 vs 71.1 vs 72.7 μm; P =.026) sectors respectively.

Researchers also found that duration of diabetes negatively correlated with pRNFL thickness (R2, 0.125; P <.001) in the T2DM cohort.. The duration of both T2DM and HTN showed a negative correlation that was more strongly associated with HTN (R2, 0.121; P =.008) than T2DM (R2, 0.052; P =.092).

Related Content

Hypertension (P =.005), diabetes duration (P =.011), age (P =.014), and glycated hemoglobin (P =.049) were significant predictors of pRNFL thickness in the univariate model, while HTN (β, -3.766; 95% CI, -6.535 to -0.997; P =.008) and diabetes duration (β, -0.236; 95% CI, -0.432 to -0.041; P =.018) were significant in the multivariate model.

Study limitations include its retrospective nature, possible selection bias, and confounding due to the failure to exclude HTN patients with a previous occurrence and subsequent regression of HTN retinopathy.

Reference


Lee M-W, Park G-S, Lim H-B, et al. Effect of systemic hypertension on peripapillary RNFL thickness in patients with diabetes without diabetic retinopathy. Diabetes. 2021;70(11):2663-2667. doi:10.2337/db21-0491

  • Latest News Your top articles for Saturday

  • Haymarket Medical NetworkTop Picks

  • Loading...

    Continuing Medical Education (CME/CE) Courses

    Show More