Prevalence and Pattern of Macular Edema in Diabetes

Abstract

Objective: Diabetic macular edema (DME) is the major cause of vision loss in patients with diabetic retinopathy (DR). The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of DME in pre diagnosed Type II diabetes mellitus cases, to analyze DME pattern based on Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) images and to correlate it with glycemic control. Methods: In cross sectional study, 200 eyes of 100 pre diagnosed type II diabetes mellitus cases were examined for DR, DME and OCT was performed to look for central macular thickness. Result: 200 eyes were examined, 95 of them were diagnosed to have DR and 19 eyes were diagnosed to have DME. Three characteristics were found in the images of OCT in cases with DME: Diffuse retinal thickening in 9 eyes(42.4%), cystoid macular edema in7 eyes(36.8%) and serous retinal detachment in 3(15.8%). Statistical analysis showed that there was positive correlation of prevalence of DME with poor glycemic control (p<0.046), duration of diabetes (p<0.013), and severity of DR (p<0.000) but not with pattern of DME. There was statistic significance between central macular thickness and increasing grade of DME (p<0.000). Conclusion: The prevalence of DME is 9.5% in type II diabetes mellitus cases in this study. Prevalence is correlated with DR severity, duration of diabetes, and poor glycemic control. Three patterns of DME are demonstrated with OCT images. The macular thickness is correlated to severity of DME.