Lens fluorescence in relation to metabolic control of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus
M. Larsen, B. Kjer, I. Bendtson, P. Dalgaard and H. Lund-Andersen
Department of Ophthalmology, Gentofte Hospital, Hellerup, Denmark.
The correlation of blue-green lens fluorescence to the metabolic control of
insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus was studied in 36 patients in whom the
level of glycosylated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) had been followed from the
onset of diabetes. Good metabolic control (22 patients, all with mean HbA1c
levels, less than 7.0% and, thus, low blood glucose concentrations) was
associated with less lens fluorescence and a higher lens transmittance than
poor metabolic control (14 patients, all with mean HbA1c levels, greater
than 9.7%). It appears that in diabetes, an increase in lens fluorescence
and a decrease in lens transmittance are delayed by good metabolic control,
and that the determination of lens fluorescence provides information about
the long-term control of diabetes.
