Impact of Duration of Diabetes on Schirmer’s Test and Tear Film Break up Time

Dry eye is very commonly seen in diabetic patients and it needs to be detected and treated early. The purpose of this study is to measure tear film parameters in diabetic patients using tests like Schirmer’s test and Tear film Break Up Time (T-BUT) and to correlate them with duration of diabetes mellitus. This is a cross sectional study which included 200 eyes of 100 adult patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The duration of diabetes was noted. All patients underwent measurement of T-BUT in both eyes. After 30 minutes, Schirmer’s test was performed with anesthesia with eyes closed. The values of Schirmer’s test and T-BUT test were correlated with duration of diabetes using Pearson’s coefficient of correlation. There is strong negative correlation between duration of diabetes and T-BUT value. There is moderate negative correlation between duration and Schirmer’s value which is found to be statistically significant (p<0.001). Diabetes adversely affects the tear film parameters. As duration of diabetes increases, there is fall in both Schirmer’s value and TBUT value. T-BUT is more strongly affected.