Assessment of corneal endothelial cell changes in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Objectives: The aim is to assess and quantify the changes in corneal endothelial cells amongst patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus attending a tertiary care hospital and compare them with a non-diabetic control group. Materials and Methods: It is a prospective analytical study carried out in the ophthalmology outpatient department, in patients attending a tertiary care hospital in western Gujarat. After taking ethical committee approval and informed consent from the patient, the corneal endothelial cells were measured using a specular microscope. Specular microscopy was done in the control group as well as the diabetic group. The t -test was used to compare the mean values of corneal endothelial cell parameters such as cell density (CD), percentage of hexagonal cells, and coefficient of variation in cell size between two independent groups: Diabetic and non-diabetic patients. The test was performed at a 95% confidence level, with P < 0.05 indicating statistical significance. Results: The study was carried out in a total of 276 patients, of which 138 belonged to the diabetic group and 138 belonged to the non-diabetic group. Diabetic patients showed a lower endothelial CD (2300 ± 350 cells/mm 2 ) compared to non-diabetic patients (2700 ± 320 cells/mm 2 ), with a highly significant difference ( P < 0.001). Diabetic patients exhibited a higher coefficient of variance (38.5 ± 5.8%) compared to non-diabetic patients (32.7 ± 4.9%), indicating greater variability in cell size and shape in diabetics. This difference was statistically significant ( P < 0.001). Diabetic patients had a lower percentage of hexagonal cells (50.2 ± 5.1%) compared to non-diabetic patients (58.6 ± 4.7%), indicating less regular cell morphology in diabetics. This difference was statistically significant ( P < 0.001). Conclusion: Study revealed that diabetic patients exhibit marked reduction in CD, increased coefficient of variance and decreased percentage of hexagonal cells as compared to non-diabetics.