Purpose: Our aim was to compare optic disc parameters, retinal nerve fiber (RNFL) and macular ganglion cell layers between children and adolescents with diabetes mellitus (type 1) and healthy controls.
Methods: Sixty-three eyes of 63 pediatric diabetic patients without diabetic retinopathy and 44 eyes of 44 healthy controls were included in this cross-sectional and comparative study. Diabetic and control groups were similar in the aspect of age, gender and refractive error. Measurements of optic disc parameters (i.e., rim area, disc area, cup-to-disc ratio, cup volume), thickness of RNFL and macular ganglion cell-inner plexiform layers (GCL + IPL) were taken with the spectral domain optical coherence tomography.
Results: There were not statistically significant differences between the diabetic patients and healthy controls in terms of intraocular pressure (p = 0.14), retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (p = 0.61), rim area (p = 0.92), disc area (p = 0.10), vertical cup-to-disc ratio (p = 0.16), cup volume (p = 0.13), and average macular GCL + IPL thickness (p = 0.43). On the other hand, binocular RNFL thickness symmetry percentage was statistically significantly different in the diabetic and control groups (p = 0.01).
Conclusion: Diabetic children and adolescents without diabetic retinopathy have more binocular RNFL thickness asymmetry compared to healthy controls.
Keywords: Diabetes mellitus; Macular ganglion cell layer; Optic disc; Retinal nerve fiber layer.