A Clinical Study of Meibomian Gland Dysfunction in Patients with Diabetes

AIMS OF THE STUDY: To study the frequency of meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) in patients of diabetes mellitus with dry eye. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A case-control cross sectional study. SAMPLING: Purposive random sampling. Totally, 200 eyes of 100 patients of diabetes mellitus and an equal number of eyes of normal subjects as control, who were gender and age matched and all of whom were symptomatic for dry eye were assessed for MGD by noting the symptoms and determining the meibomian gland expression scale for volume and viscosity, and ocular surface staining with Lissamine green, and Fluorescein sodium. All the subjects were graded for the severity of MGD. The results were compared in both the groups to ascertain whether the frequency of MGD in diabetics is significantly more as compared to nondiabetics. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: The data were analyzed by Chi-square test for significance. P < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. RESULTS: There was a significant increase in the frequency of MGD in diabetics as compared to the nondiabetics. CONCLUSION: Diabetes mellitus is associated with MGD.