Premium
Myopia in insulin treated diabetes
Author(s) -
Sjølie A. K.,
Goldschmidt E.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
acta ophthalmologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.534
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1755-3768
pISSN - 1755-375X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-3768.1985.tb06854.x
Subject(s) - hypermetropia , medicine , diabetes mellitus , population , optometry , refraction , visual acuity , danish , ophthalmology , endocrinology , refractive error , optics , physics , environmental health , linguistics , philosophy
Myopia occurs with excess frequency in diabetes mellitus (Fledelius 1983, 1985). Refractive values in early onset insulin treated diabetic patients have been studied. The characteristics of the material are presented in more detail elsewhere (Sjølie 1985). The original ophthalmological material consisted of the prevalence population of insulin treated diabetics with onset before 30 years of age as of 1.7. 1973 from the Fyn County. Our investigation originates from 1981/1982, and comprised a follow‐up examination of 577 patients of the original material, who were still alive. Determination of the refraction was carried out subjectively without the use of a cycloplegic. If the patients had a visual acuity of 6/6 with spectacles, the strength of the glasses was employed as an expression of the refractive value. Fortyfive percent of the patients were myopic, ‐0.5D or more. The frequency of hypermetropia was low, particularly with regard to the lower degrees; this is due to the fact that no systematic study of hypermetropia was carried out. The frequency of myopia was highest in the age groups from 20–29 years, but comparatively high in all age groups. A considerable variation in the frequency of myopia in the Danish population in relation to education and profession is well‐known; and therefore we have studied more thoroughly the question of whether myopic diabetics differ in this respect from the non‐myopics. Those with myopia had, on the whole, a somewhat longer education than the non‐myopics, and the difference was significant for both men and women. On the other hand, if we consider the distribution in respect of profession and compare the 262 myopics with a 10% random sample of the population of Fyn, there is no pronounced difference. We have been unable to determine at what age the diabetic patients developed myopia in this investigation, but we have found, as did Fledelius, that the majority of myopics have rather low degrees of myopia. The number with more severe myopia does not seem to differ to any great extent from that of the background population. It thus appears that diabetics develop low‐degree myopia more frequently than non‐diabetics, and we will attempt to determine, in a new investigation, the factors likely to cause this type of myopia.