Dr. SIDDHARTH KUMAR

Dr. SUMITA MOHAPATRA, Dr. JYOTISH KHILAR

Abstract

Background-Neuroretinal damage in diabetic retinopathy is well documented phenomenon, however confounding factors like chronic kidney disease (CKD) among others, if not ruled out may skew their quantitative assessment

Methods-Hospital based cross sectional study, mean peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFL) was measured in patients using spectral domain optical coherence tomography. 21 diabetic CKD patients with diabetic retinopathy were matched with 21 diabetic retinopathy patients without CKD, minimizing the confounding factors among both the groups.

Results-Peripapillary RNFL was reduced in cases of diabetic retinopathy with CKD when compared to diabetic retinopathy without CKD, significantly in CKD 3,4 and 5 (p< 0.05) but difference was not significant in CKD1 and 2 (p> 0.05)

Conclusion-When assessing neuroretinal damage in cases of diabetic retinopathy, kidney disease must be ruled out. Also, a low RNFL thickness in diabetics may point out to possible renal damage