A very recent study, published in Diabetes Care, analysed the correlation between infectious eye diseases and diabetes.
Le infections are a serious danger for the diabetic patient and several predisposing factors may be involved, among them: genetic predisposition, altered cellular and humoral mechanisms of immune defence, local factors including poor blood supply and nerve damage, and alterations in metabolism.
For these reasons, some types of infections tend to be more common in diabetic patients, such as infections of the eyelids, naso-lacrimal duct, conjunctiva and corneal surface, while others tend to worsen more easily. However, despite the hypothesis that people with diabetes are more susceptible to eye infections there is, to date, little research to support this.
A very recent study conducted at the University of Surrey (UK) and published in Diabetes Careanalysed, based on previous evidence, the correlation between infectious eye diseases and diabetes. The researchers measured over a period of 6 years the incidence of infections in the population with diabetes compared to the population without diabetes and the impact of glycaemic control on infection rates ocular in the population with diabetes. The total population was 938,440 individuals without diabetes and 48,584 with diabetes (3,273 with type 1 diabetes and 45,311 with type 2 diabetes).
The study showed that the presence of type 1 and type 2 diabetes was significantly correlated with an increased incidence of bacterial conjunctivitiswhile no correlations were found with blepharitis, stye, chalazion, periorbital cellulitis, keratitis, kerato-conjunctivitis, lacrimal gland infections, or endophthalmitis. The study also indicated no correlation between glycaemic control and any ocular infection; whereas a association between diabetes and increased incidence of antimicrobial prescriptions.
The study data therefore support the hypothesis that conjunctivitis is more common in people with diabetes, yet hyperglycaemia does not appear to be a predisposing factor in the onset of the disease.Â
Bibliography
Abdus Samad Ansari, et al. Association Between Diabetes, Level of Glycemic Control, and Eye Infection: A Cohort Study. Diabetes Care. December 2016. DOI: 10.2337/dc16-2320.
Dr. Carmelo Chines
Direttore responsabile
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