Correlation between Axial Length and Progression of Diabetic Retinopathy: Axial Length and Diabetic Retinopathy Progression

Abstract

Diabetes mellites (DM) can cause various eye issues, like a higher chance of getting cataracts. But the most common and serious problem is diabetic retinopathy. Some researches indicate that with every additional millimeter in axial length, there is a 19% reduction in the prevalence of DR. On the other hand, another study conducted to investigate the relationship between axial length and retinal involvement in patients with diabetes show different result that patients with retinopathy had shorter axial lengths than did patients without retinopathy. This study aims to investigate the potential correlation between ocular axial length and the progression of diabetic retinopathy in individuals with diabetes.  A prospective cross-sectional randomized study designed to evaluate the relationship between axial length and the diabetic retinopathy (DR) for 105 eyes diagnosed with Diabetes Mellitus and having Diabetic Retinopathy in any stage, all case was attending and seeking routine eye examinations at Benghazi Eye Teaching Hospital. They underwent a complete ophthalmic evaluation, by slit lamp bio-microscopy, and a detailed fundus examination. Axial length measurement for all eyes using an A-scan Ultrasonography 12 Megahertz (MHz) focused probe (Ellex Eye Cubed i3 Ultrasound).  In our investigation concerning patients diagnosed with diabetes, When analyzing the relationship between the duration of diabetes in years and the progression of diabetic retinopathy (DR), it was observed that as the duration of diabetes increases, the severity of DR also tends to increase. And we observed a heightened prevalence of diabetic retinopathy (DR) among those with shorter ocular axial lengths. significant at a 0.01 level, underscores an inverse association between ocular axial length and DR prevalence.