Proportion of Dry Eye among Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus with Diabetic Retinopathy.

Diabetic retinopathy and dryness of the eye are the most common complications of type 2 diabetes mellitus. With the progression of diabetes mellitus, patients seldom report symptoms of ocular surface problems due to lack of correlation between symptoms and signs of dry eye. This study was designed to find out the proportion of dry eye among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus with diabetic retinopathy. This cross sectional descriptive type of observational study was conducted in the Department of Ophthalmology, Mymensingh Medical College, Bangladesh, from February 2021 to September 2022. Total 224 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus with diabetic retinopathy were selected considering inclusion and exclusion criteria. All the patients underwent routine ophthalmic examinations like visual acuity, slit lamp examination and fundus examination by 90D volk lens (Condensing lens) and indirect ophthalmoscopy. Dry eye status was assessed by performing Tear film break up time test, Schirmer I and II tests. Color fundus photograph and HbA1c was performed in all the patients. This study examined 224 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus who also had diabetic retinopathy. Out of these, 100 patients were diagnosed with dry eye. Of these patients, 2.0% had mild non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy, 39.0% had moderate non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy, 23.0% had severe non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy, and 36.0% had proliferative diabetic retinopathy. In this study 44.6% of the patients had dry eyes among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus with diabetic retinopathy. Significant association was found between dry eye status and grading of diabetic retinopathy (p=0.001), gender of the patients (p=0.036), duration of diabetes mellitus (p=0.002) and HbA1c (p=0.001). No correlation was found between ages of the patients with dryness status.