Comparison of Central Corneal Thickness Between Diabetic and Non-Diabetic Population

Abstract

A case control study was conducted to compare the central corneal thickness between diabetic and non-diabetic population. The subjects were 185 Malaysian adults who came to the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC) Eye Clinic. The sample was divided into two groups in which there were 90 diabetic and 95 non-diabetic participants. All subjects who fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria were recruited after obtaining informed consents. Central cornea thickness (CCT) measurement was carried out on right eye with a Topcon SP-2000P non-contact specular microscope. Readings would only be taken from the left eye if the right eye did not meet the inclusion criteria. Three measurements were taken and the mean was used as the final result. Over half were Malays (n=103, 55.7%) followed by Chinese (n=69, 37.3%) and Indians (n=13, 7.0%). The mean age for diabetic participants was 59.23±10.02 years, ranging from 38-74 years. Among the non-diabetic participants, the mean age was 57.07±13.68 years, ranging from 23-78 years. The difference between age of diabetics and nondiabetics was not statistically significant (p=0.22). CCT of all participants was normally distributed, with the mean of 526.55± 31.82 μm. The mean CCT in diabetic participants was 531.48± 32.88 μm whereas it was 521.88± 30.22 μm in non-diabetic participants. The increase in CCT found in diabetic participants was statistically significant (p=0.04). This study showed that diabetes is associated with thicker CCT which might contribute to overestimation of intraocular pressure in the management of suspected glaucoma patients.