Photo Credit: Manuel Tauber-Romieri

A systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the association between subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT) and diabetic macular edema (DME) in diabetic retinopathy (DR) patients. Authors of a study published online in Acta Diabetologica analyzed 26 studies involving 3,201 eyes (1,302 with DME and 1,899 without). According to findings, no significant difference in SFCT was found between DR patients with and without DME (WMD=-3.57 μm; 95% CI, -26.54 – 19.41 μm; P=0.76). However, subgroup analysis revealed that SFCT was significantly thinner in nonproliferative DR (NPDR) patients with DME compared to those without (WMD=-19.80 μm; 95% CI, -34.55 – -5.04 μm; P=0.009), whereas no significant difference was found in proliferative DR (PDR) patients (WMD=-26.45 μm; 95% CI, -104.00 – 51.11 μm; P=0.50). The authors concluded that thinning SFCT may contribute to retinal hypoxia and DME development, emphasizing the need to consider DR stages and treatment history in SFCT assessments.