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Study of visual acuity and contrast sensitivity in diabetic patients with and without non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy

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Abstract

Purpose

To analyze high and low contrast visual acuity and contrast sensitivity in diabetic patients without clinically significant macular edema associated or not with non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy.

Methods

Cross-sectional study of 368 eyes of 368 patients classified into three groups: a) disease-free patients, b) patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) without diabetic retinopathy, c) DM patients with non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy. All patients underwent a complete ophthalmological examination that included high and low contrast visual acuity with 1.25%, 2.5% and 5% contrast chart and Pelli–Robson type contrast sensitivity test.

Results

We observed no statistically significant differences regarding age, intraocular pressure, duration of diabetes or high contrast visual acuity. The eyes of patients with non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy had worse contrast sensitivity (p = 0.03, in both cases) and low contrast visual acuity at 1.5% (p = 0.03 and p = 0.01), 2.5% (p = 0.01, in both cases) and 5% (p = 0.02 and p = 0.04) than patients free of disease or without diabetic retinopathy.

Conclusions

Analysis of contrast sensitivity and low contrast visual acuity could be considered as markers of visual function impairment in the eyes of patients with non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy.

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Data supporting the results reported in the article are not public but can be accessed after communicating with the corresponding author.

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Funding

No funding was received for this research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, James Cook University Hospital, Middlerbrough, UK

    Teresa Lupión Durán

  2. Department of Ophthalmology, Santiago de Compostela University Medical School, C/ Ramon Baltar s/n, 15706, Santiago de Compostela-La Coruña, Spain

    Antonio García-Ben

  3. Department of Ophthalmology, Basurto Hospital, Bilbao, Spain

    Verónica Rodríguez Méndez

  4. El Palo Health Center, Málaga, Spain

    Luís Gálvez Alcázar

  5. Department of Ophthalmology, Ferrol University Hospital Complex, La Coruña, Spain

    Emma García-Ben

  6. Department of Ophthalmology, Virgen de La Victoria University Medical School, Málaga, Spain

    José Manuel García-Campos

Authors
  1. Teresa Lupión Durán
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  2. Antonio García-Ben
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  3. Verónica Rodríguez Méndez
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  4. Luís Gálvez Alcázar
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  5. Emma García-Ben
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  6. José Manuel García-Campos
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Teresa Lupión Durán, Antonio García-Ben, Verónica Rodríguez Méndez, Luís Gálvez Alcázar, Emma García-Ben and José Manuel García-Campos. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Antonio García-Ben and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Antonio García-Ben.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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We give our authorization for the publication our article in “International Ophthalmology”.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were performed in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee of the Virgen de la Victoria University Hospital and School of Medicine, and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Cite this article

Lupión Durán, T., García-Ben, A., Rodríguez Méndez, V. et al. Study of visual acuity and contrast sensitivity in diabetic patients with and without non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy. Int Ophthalmol 41, 3587–3592 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-021-01930-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-021-01930-x

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