The abnormality of retinal function in early type 2 diabetes patients without retinopathy

Abstract

Abstract Objective To study the changes of retinal function in early type 2 diabetes patients without obvious macroscopic retinopathy via multifocal electroretinogram. Methods Thirty-six subjects (72 eyes) without visible diabetes retinopathy were selected as the experimental group, and 35 healthy subjects (70 eyes) were selected as the control group. All subjects were underwent multifocal electroretinogram (mf-ERG). Results Compared with the control group, the implicit time delay of the P1 wave in the first ring, third ring, fourth ring, and fifth ring of the experimental group was significant (t = -3.154, p = 0.004, t = -8.21, p = 0.000, t = -3.067, p = 0.004, t = -4.443, p = 0.000, respectively). The implicit time of the N1 wave in the fourth- and fifth-ring were also significantly delayed compared with the control group (t = -3.549, p = 0.001, t = 2.961, and p = 0.005, respectively). The implicit time of the P1 wave and N1 wave in the temporal region was later than that in the nasal region (t = -2.148, p = 0.037, t = -2.834, p = 0.007, respectively). There was no difference in the implicit time and amplitude density of the N1 and P1 waves in the nasal region between the experimental group and the control group. The multifocal electroretinogram complex parameters showed better specificity and sensitivity in the diagnosis of diabetes retinopathy. Conclusion The multifocal electroretinogram can detect abnormal changes in the retina of early type 2 diabetes patients without visible diabetic retinopathy. The multifocal electroretinogram complex parameter is a potential indicator for the early diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy.