Abstract
Purpose :
Previous studies reported that meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) was more prevalent in diabetic patients. The purpose of this study is to find factors related to MGD in diabetes patients and relationship between other clinical dry-eye indices.
Methods :
We retrospectively reviewed charts of 38 diabetic patients (22 male, 16 female) who visited ophthalmology clinic and had hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) results. We analyzed lipid layer thickness (LLT) and meibomian gland images measured by LipiView (TearScience Inc, Morrisville, NC, USA), corneal sensitivity, tear film break-up time (BUT), Schirmer’s test value, and ocular surface disease index (OSDI) score. Meibomian gland drop out (meibography score) was graded as 4 scales (Grade 0, 1, 2 and 3) for upper and lower lids, and the sum of upper and lower lids was recorded as a total grade (0-6). We further divided all patients into two groups according to the duration of diabetes (group 1 [short duration, < 5 year] and group 2 [long duration, ≥ 5 year]) and compared LLT, meibography score and other dry-eye indices.
Results :
The negative relationship between HbA1c and LLT was statistically significant by linear regression (p=0.045). Other indices including BUT, corneal sensitivity, OSDI, and meibography score did not show statistical relationship with HbA1c (all p>0.05). The relationship between LLT and corneal sensitivity, BUT, Schirmer’s value, OSDI and meibography score had no significance (all p>0.05). Also, the relationship between HbA1c and corneal sensitivity, BUT, Schirmer’s value, OSDI and meibography score had no significance (all p>0.05). Group 1 and Group 2 did not show statistical differences in corneal sensitivity, BUT, Schirmer’s value, OSDI, LLT and meibography score (all p>0.05).
Conclusions :
In diabetic patients, a higher value of HbA1c was related to the lower LLT. However, there was no significant relationship between HbA1c or DM duration and meibomian gland drop out or other clinical dry-eye indices.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.