Diabetic patients with minimal DR show decreased retinal thickness

Patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus and minimal diabetic retinopathy have significantly decreased pericentral retinal thickness, according to a study by researchers in the Netherlands. "This could be explained by a loss of intraretinal neural tissue in the earliest stage of [diabetic retinopathy]," the authors noted.

Carine Biallosterski and colleagues at Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam compared optical coherence tomography-measured retinal thickness between 53 patients divided into three groups. One group included patients with type 1 diabetes and no diabetic retinopathy (DR). The second group included patients with type 1 diabetes and minimal DR. The control group included healthy, nondiabetic patients, according to the study.

Retinal thickness in the pericentral area averaged 267 µm in diabetic patients with minimal DR, significantly lower than the average thickness of 281 µm for controls (P = .005). Additionally, pericentral retinal thickness in diabetics without DR averaged 276 µm. This was also lower than in control patients, but was higher than patients with minimal DR, although the difference did not reach statistical significance, the authors said.

No other ocular regions showed any significant changes, they noted.

The study is published in the September issue of British Journal of Ophthalmology.