The Influence of Diabetes Mellitus on Lenticular Thickness

The prevalence of diabetes is increasing exponentially often causing an enormous public health burden. A hospital based observational study was undertaken and 144 type I diabetic subjects with equal number of nondiabetic controls were enrolled. The mean lens thickness, duration, fasting blood sugar, post prandial blood sugar and glycated hemoglobin were assessed. The crystalline lens was thicker in the diabetic group (4.33±0.38 mm vs 4.05±0.55 mm) which was statistically significant (p<0.001). There was a significant correlation between lens thickness and age (p<0.001, r=0.651) and between lens thickness and duration of diabetes (p<0.001, r=0.468). However, HBA1c and blood sugar levels had no significant influence on lenticular thickness.