Rates of Choroidal and Neurodegenerative Changes Over Time in Diabetic Patients Without Retinopathy: A 3-Year Prospective Study.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the longitudinal changes of retinal neurodegeneration and choroidal thickness in diabetic patients with and without diabetic retinopathy (DR).

DESIGN

Prospective observational cohort study.

METHODS

This prospective observational cohort study recruited type 2 diabetic patients from a community registry in Guangzhou. All participants underwent annual ocular examinations via swept-source optical coherence tomography that obtained choroid thickness (CT), retinal thickness (RT), and ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer (GC-IPL) thickness. The changes in GC-IPL, CT, and RT between patients who developed incident DR (IDR) or remained non-DR (NDR) were compared during a 3-year follow-up.

RESULTS

Among 924 patients, 159 (17.2%) patients developed IDR within the 3-year follow-up. A reduction in GC-IPL, RT, and CT was observed in NDR and IDR; however, CT thinning in patients with IDR was significantly accelerated, with an average CT reduction of -6.98 (95% CI: -8.26, -5.71) μm/y in patients with IDR and -3.98 (95% CI: -4.60, -3.36) μm/y in NDR patients (P < .001). Reductions in average GC-IPL thickness over 3 years were -0.97 (95% CI: -1.24, -0.70) μm/y in patients with IDR and -0.76 (95% CI: -0.82, -0.70) μm/y in NDR patients (P = .025). After adjusting for confounding factors, the average CT and GC-IPL thinning were significantly faster in patients with IDR compared with those who remained NDR by 2.09 μm/y (95% CI: 1.01, 3.16; P = .004) and -0.29 μm/y (95% CI: -0.49, -0.09; P = .004), respectively. The RT in the IDR group increased, whereas the RT in the NDR group decreased over time, with the adjusted difference of 2.09 μm/y (95% CI: 1.01, 3.16; P < .001) for central field RT.

CONCLUSIONS

The rate of retinal neurodegeneration and CT thinning were significantly different between the eyes that developed IDR and remained NDR during the 3-year follow-up, but both groups observed thickness reduction. This indicates that GC-IPL and CTs may decrease before the clinical manifestations of DR.