Biometry of the crystalline lens in late onset diabetes: the importance of diabetic type.

Lenticular and anterior chamber biometry were studied in non-cataractous eyes by means of Scheimpflug photography and digital image analysis. The study population consisted of 91 late onset diabetic subjects and 115 non-diabetic controls. Anteroposterior axial lens thickness, cortical thickness, nuclear thickness, anterior clear zone thickness, anterior chamber depth, and anterior and posterior lenticular curvatures were assessed. Age played an important role in determining lens biometry in all subjects, and small but significant differences were found between late onset diabetics and non-diabetics. In the late onset diabetic subgroup, apart from age, diabetic retinopathy was the only significant parameter found which determined lens biometry. These biometric findings in late onset diabetes are in marked contrast to the large overall effect of diabetes and the powerful effect of diabetic duration which we previously reported in early onset diabetes. Further analysis of the data from our previous study has been provided, which clearly demonstrates differences between the impact of early and late onset diabetes on the biometry of the anterior ocular segment.