Key takeaways:
- Prevalence of dry eye disease was 55.6% in type 2 diabetic nephropathy group vs. 37.3% in type 2 diabetes mellitus group.
- Older age, high HbA1C and reduced glomerular filtration rate were associated factors.
More than half of patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy had dry eye disease, which was independently associated with older age, high HbA1C and reduced glomerular filtration rate, according to research conducted in Vietnam.
“Kidney complications and eye complications often go together, and ‘renal-retinal syndrome’ originates from this coincidence,” Thang Tran Tat, from Nghe An Eye Hospital in Vietnam, and colleagues wrote in Clinical Ophthalmology. “There have been many studies on dry eyes in diabetic patients. However, the prevalence of dry eyes and related factors in patients with type 2 diabetic nephropathy has not been studied much.”
Researchers conducted a cross-sectional study of 338 individuals (mean age, 64.19 years; 48.2% men), of whom 169 had type 2 diabetic nephropathy (T2DN), and 169 had type 2 diabetic mellitus (T2DM) without renal complications. All participants underwent assessment for tear breakup time and completed the Ocular Surface Disease Index questionnaire.
According to results, the prevalence of dry eye was 55.6% in the T2DN group and 37.3% in the T2DM group (P < .001). The T2DN group was older and had longer median duration of diabetic mellitus than the T2DM group, as well as significantly higher hypertension, peripheral nerve complications, anemia, lipid disorder, plasma urea, creatinine and C-reactive protein. The proportion of individuals using insulin also was higher.
The T2DN group had higher OSDI scores but lower TBUT than the T2DM group (P < .001).
Among those with dry eye in the T2DN group, mean age, median duration of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, peripheral nerve complications, anemia, glucose, HbA1C, plasma urea, creatinine and C-reactive protein also were higher compared with those without dry eye in that group.
Researchers reported that older age, high HbA1C and decreased estimated glomerular filtration rate were independently associated with dry eye among patients with T2DN, based on multivariate logistic regression analysis.
“Although the research goal has been achieved, our study still has some limitations because it has not fully analyzed the relationship between dry eyes and related factors in T2DN patients,” Tat and colleagues wrote.
