Abstract
Purpose: :
The initial Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study (OHTS) data suggested that early diabetes mellitus (DM), defined as DM without clinical presence of diabetic retinopathy, may be protective against the development of primary open angle glaucoma, a progressive optic neuropathy. A re-analysis of the OHTS data suggested otherwise. Nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) is an acute optic neuropathy that shares some of the features of glaucomatous optic neuropathy. Our study sought to investigate if early DM reduces the severity of visual loss in patients with NAION.
Methods: :
Retrospective, observational case review evaluating the mean deviation of visual field loss on automated perimetry (program 24-2) for 176 consecutive patients with NAION.
Results: :
The mean deviation on initial presentation was -18.5 dB for 45 patients with DM, and -17.5 dB for 131 patients without DM (P =0.52). There was no difference in mean deviation between those with and without DM when accounting for the presence or absence hypertension (P = 0.34).
Conclusions: :
Early DM did not reduce the severity of visual loss in NAION.
Keywords: neuro-ophthalmology: optic nerve • diabetic retinopathy • visual impairment: neuro-ophthalmological disease