Ophthalmological studies of complications of type 2 diabetes mellitus

The course and progression of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) is often accompanied by the development of various ophthalmological complications, among which diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the most studied. However, other ophthalmological complications of DM2 in patients are presented in isolated publications and are not considered in dynamics.

Objective. Investigation of the structure of ophthalmic complications of DM2 over a long time period.

Subjects and methods. The study of ophthalmological complications of DM2 was carried out according to official medical statistics among the adult population of the Tambov region for 2016–2021. All complications of the organ of vision identified by ophthalmologists were analyzed by a retrospective method. For comparison, non-ophthalmological complications of DM2 were also considered.

Results. Ophthalmological complications of DM2 among adults in the Tambov region amount to 22,9±2,5%, which is significantly lower than the proportion of neophthalmological complications of DM2 over the same period of time. The share of ophthalmic complications during the studied years significantly increased and, first of all, due to an increase in DR in the structure of complications from 11,5±2,1% in 2016 to 15,1±1,8% in 2021 (p<0,01). Among ophthalmological complications in 2016–2021 the proportion of another ophthalmological complications, diabetic cataract, also increased statistically significantly from 4.3±0.7% to 6.9±0.8%, respectively (p<0,01).

Conclusion. An increase in the proportion of ophthalmic complications of DM2 indicates the relevance of screening patients with DM2.