Objective: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the changes in the ocular surface parameters of type 2 diabetic patients.
Methods: This study is a cross-sectional observational study. It included 76 eyes of 38 patients with type 2 diabetes and 183 eyes of 92 non-diabetic controls. The diabetic subjects were divided into two groups based on diabetic duration. Ocular surface parameters were assessed for all participants.
Results: The diabetic group had a significantly thinner lipid layer thickness (LLT) (p = 0.008) than non-diabetic controls. LLT in the subgroup with diabetic duration ≥ 10 years was significantly thinner than that in the subgroup with diabetic duration < 10 years (p = 0.006). Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that LLT was associated with the duration of diabetes (β = − 1.497, p = 0.009) and Schirmer I test (SIT) score (β = 0.852, p = 0.04) in diabetic. Diabetic duration was significantly negatively associated with LLT (β = − 0.062, p = 0.004) and significantly positively associated with ocular surface disease index (OSDI) (β = 0.087, p = 0.039).
Conclusion: Diabetic patients exhibit significantly reduced LLT and this trend becomes more pronounced with increased duration of diabetes.
Keywords: lipid layer thickness, diabetes, ocular surface parameters