Abstract
Purpose:
To investigate corneal biomechanical properties in primary open angle glaucoma patients with and without diabetes mellitus (DM), and to evaluate the effect of metabolic control and duration of DM on biomechanical properties of cornea.
Methods:
A total of 101 eyes of 101 primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) patients (60 with diabetes and 41 without diabetes) were recruited in this prospective study. After a complete ophthalmic examination, corneal hysteresis (CH) and corneal resistance factor (CRF) of the patients were measured by the ocular response analyzer (ORA). Central corneal thickness (CCT) measurements were measured with ultrasound pachymeter. Glucolysed haemoglobine (HbA1c) measurements of the patients were made on the same day as ophthalmic assessments were performed.
Results:
CRF measurements in diabetic group were found to be statistically significant compared to control group (p=0,01). There were no statistically significant differences between two groups regarding CCT and CH measurements (p=0,37 for CCT and p=0,11 for CH). In diabetic group, the correlation analyses showed that CH and CRF were not significantly correlated with HbA1c levels and duration of diabetes.
Conclusions:
Significant increase in CRF measurements in diabetic POAG patients and absence of any statistically significant difference in CCT measurements suggest that there would be some corneal biomechanical changes related to increased corneal stiffness which is depicted by the increase of CRF values parallel to failure of corneal hydration. It was found that duration and metabolic control of diabetes did not change the biomechanical properties of cornea.
Keywords: 480 cornea: basic science •
499 diabetic retinopathy •
627 optic disc