AI Article Synopsis

  • Corneal confocal microscopy is a non-invasive technique used to measure corneal nerve structures to investigate nerve damage in children with type 1 diabetes compared to healthy peers.
  • The study involved 20 diabetic participants averaging 14 years old and 20 healthy controls, measuring several nerve metrics such as density and length using microscopy.
  • Results showed significant reductions in corneal nerve fiber density, branch density, fiber length, and inferior whorl length in diabetic children, indicating subclinical nerve loss despite no visible complications like retinopathy.

Article Abstract

Aims/introduction: Corneal confocal microscopy is a rapid, non-invasive ophthalmic technique to identify subclinical neuropathy. The aim of this study was to quantify corneal nerve morphology in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus compared with age-matched healthy controls using corneal confocal microscopy.

Materials And Methods: A total of 20 participants with type 1 diabetes mellitus (age 14 ± 2 years, diabetes duration 4.08 ± 2.91 years, glycated hemoglobin 9.3 ± 2.1%) without retinopathy or microalbuminuria and 20 healthy controls were recruited from outpatient clinics. Corneal confocal microscopy was undertaken, and corneal nerve fiber density (n/mm ), corneal nerve branch density (n/mm ), corneal nerve fiber length (mm/mm ), corneal nerve fiber tortuosity and inferior whorl length (mm/mm ) were quantified manually.

Results: Corneal nerve fiber density (22.73 ± 8.84 vs 32.92 ± 8.59; P < 0.001), corneal nerve branch density (26.19 ± 14.64 vs 47.34 ± 20.01; P < 0.001), corneal nerve fiber length (13.26 ± 4.06 vs 19.52 ± 4.54; P < 0.001) and inferior whorl length (15.50 ± 5.48 vs 23.42 ± 3.94; P < 0.0001) were significantly lower, whereas corneal nerve fiber tortuosity (14.88 ± 5.28 vs 13.52 ± 3.01; P = 0.323) did not differ between children with type 1 diabetes mellitus and controls. Glycated hemoglobin correlated with corneal nerve fiber tortuosity (P < 0.006) and aspartate aminotransferase correlated with corneal nerve fiber density (P = 0.039), corneal nerve branch density (P = 0.003) and corneal nerve fiber length (P = 0.037).

Conclusion: Corneal confocal microscopy identifies significant subclinical corneal nerve loss, especially in the inferior whorl of children with type 1 diabetes mellitus without retinopathy or microalbuminuria.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7610109PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jdi.13313DOI Listing

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