The Association between Diabetes Mellitus and Keratoplasty in Poland in the Years 2013–2017

Background: The aim of this study is to assess the incidence and characteristic of corneal grafts and its association with diabetes mellitus in Poland in the years 2013–2017. Methods: The retrospective survey of the National Database of Hospitalizations was performed to identify all the corneal transplantations in Poland between January 2013 and December 2017. The comorbid diseases, in particular diabetes mellitus, were verified in the patients’ medical history. The logistic regression was applied to demonstrate the factors related to urgent surgeries. Results: In total, 5069 corneal grafts in 4710 patients were reported in the years 2013–2017. The number of CTs gradually increased by 37% from 914 (2.37 surgeries per one hundred thousand population) in the year 2013 to 1250 (3.25 surgeries per one hundred thousand population) in 2017, the final year of the study. CT incidence was the highest in subjects aged 70 years or older: 13.18 per one hundred thousand population in the year 2017. On average, about 22.43% of procedures were performed in patients with DM. The chance of urgent surgery was mostly correlated with full thickness CT and patients’ age. Conclusions: Despite the relatively low value of CT in Poland, there was an increasing number of CTs in the analyzed period.