CHANGES IN RETINAL FUNCTION WITH DURATION OF DIABETES-MELLITUS

1. The visual performance of 60 type II diabetics was assessed prior t o a 12 month longitudinal study of changes in function with increasing duration of diabetes mellitus (DM). 2. Subjects were divided into thr ee groups according to the known duration of DM. Each group underwent tests of log visual acuity, overall contrast sensitivity, glare contra st sensitivity, retinal acuity, oscillatory movement displacement thre sholds (OMDT), blood chemistry assays and fluorescein angiography. 3. OMDT were found to increase with increasing duration of DM. No signifi cant increase in thresholds was found for any other test of visual fun ction. 4. OMDT were suggested to be exceptionally sensitive to the pre -clinical neuronal changes which accompany DM.