Retinopathy in patients with diabetic ophthalmoplegia.

PURPOSE: To compare patients with palsy of the 3rd, 4th or 6th cranial nerve due to diabetes mellitus (DM) with controls matched for age, sex and disease duration in terms of the presence and severity of diabetic retinopathy.

PATIENTS AND METHOD: Thirty-three diabetic patients with cranial nerve palsies and 33 age- and sex-matched controls with the same duration of disease were included in this case-control study. Groups were evaluated in terms of the type of DM, presence and level of diabetic retinopathy and coexisting systemic diseases. Outcomes were compared by chi(2) and paired-sample tests.

RESULTS

Eleven patients had diabetic retinopathy in the study group. In the control group, 23 patients had diabetic retinopathy. Differences in the presence and severity of diabetic retinopathy between the two groups were found to be statistically significant (p = 0.028 and p = 0.018, respectively).

CONCLUSION

Presence and level of diabetic retinopathy are significantly lower in diabetics with cranial nerve palsy than in the age-, sex- and disease-duration-matched controls.