Association of grade of cataract with duration of diabetes, age and gender in patients with type II diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Background: Despite the advancement in the diagnosis and surgical techniques, cataract remains one of the major leading causes for avoidable blindness in the world. This study was performed to evaluate the association of duration of diabetes mellitus, age and gender in predicting the morphological grade of cataract in patient with type II diabetes. Methods: Sixty nine patients (35 males and 34 females) of age 50-70 years with diabetes type II who underwent cataract surgery were studied retrospectively. Patients were classified into those with immature cataract (IMSC), mature (MSC) and hypermature senile cataract (HMSC). Risk factors such as duration of diabetes, age and gender were analyzed by multiple regression analysis. Further, correlation between duration of diabetes and grade of cataract in males and females were also analyzed. Results: IMSC was the most common type with no statistically significant difference in prevalence among the gender. The cataracts detected in diabetic patients of 15 or more years of duration turned out to be IMSC. Incidence of cataract in patients with diabetic duration of 0-5 years was 37%, 6-9 years was 28.5%, 10-14 years was 12% and >15 years was 22.5%. Multiple regression analysis revealed that the duration of diabetes and age was not significantly correlated with the grade of cataracts in either males or females. Conclusions: The duration of diabetes, age or gender did not emerge as a significant risk factor for predicting grade of cataract in male or female diabetic patients. In fact, IMSC was found to be the most common among patients with >15 years of diabetic duration. Keywords: Cataract, Diabetes mellitus, Nuclear sclerosis, Cortical cataract, Posterior subcapsular cataract