(HealthDay)—The choroidal thickness changes in patients with untreated diabetes mellitus over time, according to a study published online April 14 in Clinical & Experimental Ophthalmology.

Hiroaki Endo, from Teine Keijinkai Hospital in Sapporo, Japan, and colleagues examined the choroidal layer thickness in 268 eyes of 134 patients with diabetes mellitus and 72 healthy controls (92 eyes) to compare the findings based on medical history of systemic diabetes mellitus treatments and stage of diabetic retinopathy (DR).

The researchers observed a strong correlation between masked raters of choroidal thickness measurements, proving high reproducibility. In the untreated diabetes mellitus group, the total and outer choroid thicknesses in mild/moderate non-proliferative DR (mNPDR) were significantly thinner versus normal controls. In severe NPDR, choroidal outer layer thickness in the untreated group was significantly thicker than normal controls. However, in the group treated for diabetes mellitus, there were no significant differences regarding choroidal layer thicknesses and all stages of DR.

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