Pseudoexfoliation syndrome and diabetes mellitus

The frequency of pseudoexfoliation syndrome (PXF) was determined prospectively in 2 outpatient cohorts: a normal control group and a diabetic group with or without evidence of diabetic retinopathy. Four hundred and eighty-nine normal patients over the age of 50 years (group A) were compared with 325 diabetic patients of comparable age (group B). Within the diabetic cohort 121 patients did not exhibit signs of diabetic retinopathy, whereas the rest were suffering from either background diabetic retinopathy (143), or proliferative diabetic retinopathy (61). Pseudoexfoliation syndrome was present in 23.7% of patients in group A and 11% of patients in group B. Within the latter group, PXF was significantly less prevalent in the subgroup consisting of patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (3.2%). Correlating well to the age, PXF was significantly less prevalent for the age group 60-70 and greater than 70 for these patients. These results indicate that PXF occurs less frequently in diabetics with background diabetic retinopathy and even less so in the presence of proliferative diabetic retinopathy.