The effect of diabetes on short-term outcomes following epiretinal membrane surgery

This study aimed to examine the association of diabetes with anatomical and functional outcomes of epiretinal membrane surgery.

Consecutive patients who underwent epiretinal membrane surgery between 2017–2021 at Helsinki University Hospital, Finland. Here we examined the association of diabetes, glycemic control, and requirement for insulin medication with surgical outcomes at 1-month.

Included were 214 eyes of 214 patients, with a mean age of 71.2 ± 8.2 years. Among patients with diabetes (n = 45), neither significant differences were observed in anatomical outcomes (− 47.8 ± 72.7 μm vs. − 38.3 ± 103 μm for foveal thickness, p = 0.566 and − 41.6 ± 61.8 μm vs. − 41.7 ± 85.7 μm for central subfield macular thickness, p = 0.996) nor in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) gain (0.06 ± 0.22 vs 0.12 ± 0.30 LogMAR units, p = 0.214) compared to those without diabetes. In a multivariate analysis adjusted for age, gender, the existence of preoperative macular cysts, and topical nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) use, the results remained consistent. The last preoperative HbA1c levels did not correlate with changes in foveal (Pearson’s r = 0.218, p = 0.264) or central subfield macular thickness (r = 0.365, p = 0.056), or with BCVA gain (r = -0.177, p = 0.386). Insulin therapy for diabetes did not associate with the outcomes (p > 0.05 for anatomical and functional comparisons).

In a cohort of patients who underwent epiretinal membrane surgery, neither the presence of diabetes, nor glycemic control and the use of insulin medication associated with the outcomes.