title: The relation between corneal autofluorescence, endothelial cell count and severity of the diabetic retinopathy.
abstract: We measured the corneal autofluorescence in groups with different levels of diabetic retinopathy severity (72 eyes of 46 patients) and in age-matched non-diabetic controls (34 eyes of 24 controls). We also estimated the corneal endothelium cell count and pachymetry with a contact specular microscope. For the controls, mean corneal autofluorescence was 8.8 ng equivalents fluorescein/ml (SD 0.3). Results showed increased autofluorescence of the cornea in diabetic patients (mean 17.9 ng equivalents fluorescein/ml, SD 4.2), related to the duration of diabetes (P < 0.05) and to the severity of diabetic retinopathy (P < 0.0001). Corneal endothelial cell count results showed no statistically significant relation to corneal autofluorescence (P < 0.6), indicating that the increased autofluorescence cannot be attributed to a change in corneal cell density.
authors.affiliation: Ophthalmological Clinic of Silesian Medical Academy, Katowice, Poland.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Janiec
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rzendkowski
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bolek
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002452:Cell Count; D003315:Cornea / Q000502:physiology*; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000150:complications; D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004728:Endothelium, Corneal / Q000166:cytology*; D005453:Fluorescence; D015590:Fluorophotometry; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012720:Severity of Illness Index