Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42380906›Full record

ArticleBMC ophthalmology2026

Assessment of real-life visual outcomes and treatment efficacy of diabetic macular edema in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Annika Konttinen, Joonas Wirkkala, Anna-Maria Kubin, Pasi Ohtonen, Nina Hautala

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Article in BMC ophthalmology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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2 · The registry

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Annika KonttinenDepartment of Ophthalmology, Oulu University Hospital, P.O.Box 21, Oulu, 90029 OYS, Finland.
Joonas WirkkalaResearch Unit of Clinical Medicine, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
Anna-Maria KubinDepartment of Ophthalmology, Oulu University Hospital, P.O.Box 21, Oulu, 90029 OYS, Finland.
Pasi OhtonenResearch Service Unit, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland.
Nina HautalaDepartment of Ophthalmology, Oulu University Hospital, P.O.Box 21, Oulu, 90029 OYS, Finland. nina.hautala@oulu.fi.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5454-5602

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundDiabetic macular edema (DME) is a major cause of vision loss in individuals with diabetes. This study evaluated the long-term visual prognosis of patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) by assessing real-world DME treatment outcomes.

methodsPatients with T2D and DME at Oulu University Hospital during 2010-2023 were included. The effect of DME intervention (anti-VEGF-agents, macular laser or both, intravitreal corticosteroids, observation) was evaluated by changes in visual acuity (VA) and residual edema. The dataset comprised additional variables, including age, sex, age at T2D diagnosis, timing of onset for diabetic retinopathy (DR) and DME, DR severity, glucose levels, other comorbidities, occurrences of treatment interruption, and adverse effects related to intravitreal therapy.

resultsOf 549 screened patients with T2D, 1145 DME episodes in 355 patients (560 eyes) were included. Mean ages at T2D, DR, and DME diagnosis were 51.0, 61.7, and 66.4 years, respectively. Mean HbA1c at DME treatment initiation was 64.3 mmol/mol; 93.0% had hypertension medication and 47.6% had diabetic nephropathy. DME was most treated with anti-VEGF injections alone (55.3%) or combined with laser (20.4%), yielding mean VA improvements of 3.8 [3.0-4.6] and 3.6 [2.5-4.6] ETDRS letters (both p < 0.001), respectively. Intravitreal corticosteroids (3.1%) resulted in a gain of 4.3 [1.2-7.4] letters (p = 0.014), whereas macular laser alone (12.8%) and observation (8.3%) showed no significant effect. Residual edema occurred in 38.1% (anti-VEGF), 43.2% (combination), 54.7% (observation), and 80.6% (corticosteroid) of cases. Adverse events related to any DME treatment were rare.

conclusionsDespite recurrent episodes of DME, most patients with T2D experienced improvement in visual acuity. Anti-VEGF agents alone or combined with macular laser appeared to be beneficial in terms of both visual gain and reduction of edema.

Indexed as

Angiogenesis InhibitorsDiabetes Mellitus, Type 2Diabetic RetinopathyLaser CoagulationMacular EdemaVisual AcuityAgedFemaleGlucocorticoidsHumansIntravitreal InjectionsMaleMiddle AgedRetrospective StudiesTreatment OutcomeVascular Endothelial Growth Factor AAngiogenesis InhibitorsGlucocorticoidsVascular Endothelial Growth Factor AAnti-VEGFDiabetic macular edemaDiabetic retinopathyIntravitreal corticosteroidMacular laserResidual edemaType 2 diabetes

Identifiers

PMID42380906
PMCPMC13591742

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.