Choroidal structural changes in patients with early diabetic nephropathy.

PURPOSE: To determine alterations of the choroidal thickness (CT) and the choroidal vascularity index (CVI) in patients with glomerular hyperfiltration, a marker of early diabetic nephropathy (DN). METHODS: Twenty-two patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) with glomerular hyperfiltration (early DN group) and 28 patients with T2D without DN (NDN group) were included in the study. Patients with diabetic retinopathy were excluded. Parameters including subfoveal CT, the subfoveal choroidal vascularity index (CVI), and total CVI were measured using spectral-domain enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography method. RESULTS: The early DN group included 22 patients and the NDN group comprised 28 patients. The groups were similar in terms of age and sex (p>0.05). The CT values were statistically significantly lower in the early DN group than in the NDN group (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference between the early DN group and the NDN group in terms of total and subfoveal CVI (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: The choroidal thickness decreased in patients with T2D with glomerular hyperfiltration, but there were no differences in CVI when they were compared with patients with T2D without DN.