Lens AGEs and diabetic retinopathy progression. Preliminary Results

Abstract

Purpose: To establish the relationship between the concentration of advanced glycation end products(AGEs) and the diagnosis of the diabetic retinopathy and its status.

Methods: Twenty five different patients with diabetes were evaluated at the Hospital de Clinicas which depends on the University of Buenos Aires. <br /> The diagnosis and monitoring of patients were done by means of: symptoms, fluorescence of the lens ( measure with the device CLEARPATH), best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and, fundus examination. Lens autofluorescence is increased in patients with diabetes mellitus, but clinical application has been limited by the lack of an instrument suitable for routine clinical use .This "fluorescence deviation" showed progressively higher values for normal, prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, and type 1 diabetes and a high degree of predictability of diabetes diagnosis. A receiver operating characteristics curve was used to determine sensitivity and specificity for prediction of diabetes type 2 .

Results: Fluorescence deviation was related with Diabetic Retinopathy and its status, a sensitivity of 70 % at 99 specificity was observed detection of type 2 diabetes and its classification

Conclusions: The statistically significant difference between fluorescence deviations of normal and type 2 diabetes supports the feasibility of lens autofluorescence to screen subjects for undiagnosed type 2 diabetes. Ophthalmic practices are points of care at which there may be a public health benefit for screening patients for undiagnosed diabetes.