Higher Intraocular Pressure Levels Associated With Lower Hysteresis In Type 2 Diabetes.

Aim: To investigate the differences of corneal biomechanic characteristics using Ocular Response Analyzer (ORA, Reichert; USA) on type 2 diabetics and healthy subjects.

Methods: One hundred eyes of 100 subjects (between the ages of 17-91) who applied to Adnan Menderes University's Ophthalmology Clinic between January-March 2015 were included in this study, 50 diabetics (Group 1) and 50 healthy controls (Group 2). The eyes included in the study were randomly chosen. Corneal Hysteresis (CH), Corneal Resistance Factor (CRF), Goldmann correlated Intraocular Pressure (IOPg) and corneal compensated Intraocular Pressure (IOPcc) of patients were measured by ORA. Detailed ophthalmological examinations were done for every subject. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to analyze the distribution of quantitative variables and t test was used for the data that were normally distributed. Any p value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant.

Results: The mean ages were 63.3±9.0 and 61.7±11.6 in Group 1 and 2, respectively (p=0.459). 25 (50.0%) were female, 25 (50.0%) were male in Group 1 and 26 (52.0%) were female, 24 (48.0%) were male in Group 2 (p=1.000). Mean IOPcc values were 17.8±3.6 (12.1-29.0) and 16.0±3.1 (10.9-23.8) mmHg (p=0.006); mean IOPg values were 16.9±3.5 (10.9-25.9) and 15.4±2.9 (9.0-24.7) mmHg (p=0.032); mean CH values were 9.9±1.5 (6.1-13.3) and 10.5±1.7 (6.5-15.7) (p=0.080) and mean CRF values were 10.4±1.6 (7.5-14.0) and 10.5±1.7 (6.6-15.4) (p=0.730) in Groups 1 and 2, respectively.

Conclusions: There was no any statistical difference between the groups in terms of CH and CRF. However, mean CH and CRF values were found less in diabetic group. Corneal biomechanical differences seen in diabetic patients may be associated with a statistically significantly higher IOP measurements.