Risk Factors and Visual Sequel of Non-Arteritic Ischemic Optic Neuropathy in Saudi Arabia

OBJECTIVE: To provide the demographic data, risk factors, and visual prognosis of patients from a Saudi population diagnosed with non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective observational case series of 120 patients (146 eyes) with NAION from the King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital or King Abdulaziz University Hospital from 1998 to 2015. Patients with other retinal pathology or glaucoma were excluded from the study. Additionally, a subgroup analysis was performed to compare the long-term assessment between diabetic and non-diabetic patients and its effects on NAION. RESULTS: The mean duration of follow-up was 1.7 ± 2.4 years. The mean age of the study population was 55.0 ± 10.1 years. NAION was present in the fellow eye of 26 patients, and the median time for involvement was less than 1 year from the presentation. There was no significant difference in the best-corrected visual acuity between diabetics and non-diabetics at presentation or last visit (P = 0.868, P = 0.599, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The majority of patients with NAION also had coexisting diabetes mellitus. Diabetes mellitus had no significant effect on NAION during the presentation, follow-up, and last visit.