Changes in corneal nerve morphology and function in patients with dry eyes having type 2 diabetes

Table 2 Patient characteristics

Parameters	DEwDM	DEnDM	DMnDE	nDMnDE	Statistics
Number [N]	56	33	22	20
Age [yr ± SEM]	56.9 ± 7.8	52.3 ± 11.1	55.0 ± 7.2	52.2 ± 9.4
Gender					chi-square test
Male [N (%)]	34 (60.7)	14 (42.4)	12 (54.5)	8 (40.0)
Female [N (%)]	22 (39.3)	19 (57.6)	10 (45.5)	12 (60.0)
Blood glucose [mmol/L ± SEM]	7.4 ± 4.2	NA	9.0 ± 2.5	NA
Duration of diabetes [years ± SEM]	12.3 ± 7.1	NA	14.2 ± 6.4	NA
HbA1c [% ± SEM]	8.1 ± 2.0	NA	7.9 ± 1.6	NA
OSDI scores ± SEM	5.8 ± 3.9b,c	9.7 ± 6.3a,c	3.6 ± 2.7a,b,d	10.5 ± 7.1c	Tamhane test
BUT [s ± SEM]	3.9 ± 2.5c,d	4.9 ± 3.9c,d	10.4 ± 4.9a,b	12.0 ± 6.5a,b	Tamhane test
Schirmer test [mm ± SEM]	4.5 ± 4.2c,d	3.7 ± 3.6c,d	13.6 ± 7.0a,b	11.2 ± 4.4a,b	Tamhane test

^aP < 0.05 versus diabetic dry eye syndrome (DES) group.

^bP < 0.05 versus non-diabetic DES group.

^cP < 0.05 versus diabetic without DES group.

^dP < 0.05 versus diabetic normal group.

BUT: Tear film break-up time; HbA1c: Hemoglobin A1C; OSDI: ocular surface disease index; Schirmer: Schirmer I test; NA: Not available.