Systematic Assessment of Clinical Methods to Diagnose and Monitor Diabetic Retinal Neuropathy

Purpose. Diabetic retinal neuropathy refers to retinal neural tissue damage occurring before the structural retinal changes of diabetic retinopathy and fulfils many of the criteria for causality for the subsequent vasculopathy. Developing reliable means of measuring neuronal damage in diabetes may b...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: K. Sean Jenkins, Jason C. Steel, Christopher J. Layton
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2018-01-01
Series:Journal of Ophthalmology
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2018/8479850
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849684587373920256
author K. Sean Jenkins
Jason C. Steel
Christopher J. Layton
author_facet K. Sean Jenkins
Jason C. Steel
Christopher J. Layton
author_sort K. Sean Jenkins
collection DOAJ
description Purpose. Diabetic retinal neuropathy refers to retinal neural tissue damage occurring before the structural retinal changes of diabetic retinopathy and fulfils many of the criteria for causality for the subsequent vasculopathy. Developing reliable means of measuring neuronal damage in diabetes may be important in efforts to prevent retinopathy of a clinically significant and irreversible stage. This study aimed at systematically assessing current clinical measurements of diabetic retinal neuropathy so that future studies may utilise a consensual battery of tests in studying this poorly understood disease state between a healthy retina and one that is retinopathic. Methods. A systematic search of the medical literature since 1984 was performed on PUBMED and EMBASE, and the evidence supporting each identified method as an indicator for clinically important diabetic retinal neuropathy was graded relatively as compelling, medium, or weak according to criteria assessing its relationship to subsequent diabetic retinopathy, quality of supporting studies, and published reproducibility. Results. The systematic search yielded 6432 results. Subsequent assessment by two independent investigators identified 601 multiple subject studies in humans assessing clinical aspects of the retinal structure, function, or psychophysics in the prediabetic retina. The 933 separate instances of clinical methods assessed as being supported by relatively “compelling” evidence included colour vision changes, flash ERG b-wave latency, flash multifocal b-wave latency, scotopic b-wave and oscillatory potentials in ERG, and contrast sensitivity. Conclusion. The results showed moderately poor quality of extant evidence and indicate the best clinical methods for assessing diabetic retinal neuropathy that remain to be confirmed. This is the first systematic assessment of the medical literature aiming at assessing the breadth and validity of these methods and represents an early step in identifying and developing clinical endpoints for use in trials designed to identify at-risk patients or prevent diabetic retinopathy.
format Article
id doaj-art-ba3c175f32184d5594f53e12e7ff14ff
institution DOAJ
issn 2090-004X
2090-0058
language English
publishDate 2018-01-01
publisher Wiley
record_format Article
series Journal of Ophthalmology
spelling doaj-art-ba3c175f32184d5594f53e12e7ff14ff2025-08-20T03:23:26ZengWileyJournal of Ophthalmology2090-004X2090-00582018-01-01201810.1155/2018/84798508479850Systematic Assessment of Clinical Methods to Diagnose and Monitor Diabetic Retinal NeuropathyK. Sean Jenkins0Jason C. Steel1Christopher J. Layton2Faculty of Medicine, Greenslopes Clinical School, University of Queensland, Brisbane, AustraliaCentral Queensland University, School of Health, Medical and Applied Science, Rockhampton, QLD, AustraliaFaculty of Medicine, Greenslopes Clinical School, University of Queensland, Brisbane, AustraliaPurpose. Diabetic retinal neuropathy refers to retinal neural tissue damage occurring before the structural retinal changes of diabetic retinopathy and fulfils many of the criteria for causality for the subsequent vasculopathy. Developing reliable means of measuring neuronal damage in diabetes may be important in efforts to prevent retinopathy of a clinically significant and irreversible stage. This study aimed at systematically assessing current clinical measurements of diabetic retinal neuropathy so that future studies may utilise a consensual battery of tests in studying this poorly understood disease state between a healthy retina and one that is retinopathic. Methods. A systematic search of the medical literature since 1984 was performed on PUBMED and EMBASE, and the evidence supporting each identified method as an indicator for clinically important diabetic retinal neuropathy was graded relatively as compelling, medium, or weak according to criteria assessing its relationship to subsequent diabetic retinopathy, quality of supporting studies, and published reproducibility. Results. The systematic search yielded 6432 results. Subsequent assessment by two independent investigators identified 601 multiple subject studies in humans assessing clinical aspects of the retinal structure, function, or psychophysics in the prediabetic retina. The 933 separate instances of clinical methods assessed as being supported by relatively “compelling” evidence included colour vision changes, flash ERG b-wave latency, flash multifocal b-wave latency, scotopic b-wave and oscillatory potentials in ERG, and contrast sensitivity. Conclusion. The results showed moderately poor quality of extant evidence and indicate the best clinical methods for assessing diabetic retinal neuropathy that remain to be confirmed. This is the first systematic assessment of the medical literature aiming at assessing the breadth and validity of these methods and represents an early step in identifying and developing clinical endpoints for use in trials designed to identify at-risk patients or prevent diabetic retinopathy.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2018/8479850
spellingShingle K. Sean Jenkins
Jason C. Steel
Christopher J. Layton
Systematic Assessment of Clinical Methods to Diagnose and Monitor Diabetic Retinal Neuropathy
Journal of Ophthalmology
title Systematic Assessment of Clinical Methods to Diagnose and Monitor Diabetic Retinal Neuropathy
title_full Systematic Assessment of Clinical Methods to Diagnose and Monitor Diabetic Retinal Neuropathy
title_fullStr Systematic Assessment of Clinical Methods to Diagnose and Monitor Diabetic Retinal Neuropathy
title_full_unstemmed Systematic Assessment of Clinical Methods to Diagnose and Monitor Diabetic Retinal Neuropathy
title_short Systematic Assessment of Clinical Methods to Diagnose and Monitor Diabetic Retinal Neuropathy
title_sort systematic assessment of clinical methods to diagnose and monitor diabetic retinal neuropathy
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2018/8479850
work_keys_str_mv AT kseanjenkins systematicassessmentofclinicalmethodstodiagnoseandmonitordiabeticretinalneuropathy
AT jasoncsteel systematicassessmentofclinicalmethodstodiagnoseandmonitordiabeticretinalneuropathy
AT christopherjlayton systematicassessmentofclinicalmethodstodiagnoseandmonitordiabeticretinalneuropathy