Dry eye and its correlation to diabetes microvascular complications in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus

This study was performed to investigate the correlation between dry eye disease and diabetes microvascular complications.

In this study 243 people with type 2 diabetes were enrolled. Tear osmolarity was measured using tear lab osmolarity system. All of the participants were evaluated for diabetes microvascular complications. The Michigan neuropathy screening instrument was used for detection of peripheral neuropathy, and the albumin/creatinine ratio in a spot urine sample was considered to diagnose diabetic nephropathy.

The prevalence of dry eye disease was 27.7%. The mean value for tear osmolarity was 301.97±13.52 mOsm/L. We found a significant correlation between dry eye disease and diabetic retinopathy (P=0.01). However no significant correlation was found between dry eye disease, diabetic neuropathy, and diabetic nephropathy. Dry eye disease was more prevalent in people with proliferative diabetic retinopathy and/or clinically significant macular edema (0.006). In a binary logistic regression analysis model, there was a significant correlation between dry eye disease and retinopathy (OR=2.29, CI=1.16-4.52, P=0.016). In addition, both dry eye and retinopathy had significant correlation with HbA1C.

Dry eye disease is common in people with type 2 diabetes, especially in those with diabetic retinopathy. In addition, it is more prevalent in people who suffer from advanced stages of diabetic retinopathy.