Ocular biomarkers in diabetes mellitus with diabetic kidney disease: A minireview

Diabetes mellitus ranks among the most prevalent non-communicable diseases worldwide, affecting a vast number of individuals. It can impact almost every organ in the body, leading to serious complications such as diabetic retinopathy (DR), diabetic nephropathy, and diabetic neuropathy. Scientific literature indicates that patients with severely compromised kidney function may develop non-responsive DR. Moreover, anaemia in individuals with diabetic kidney disease (DKD) complicates DR and can contribute to significant health issues. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a widely used non-invasive imaging tool for diagnosing, managing, and predicting DR. OCT findings in patients with DR and DKD include cystoid macular oedema, diffuse retinal thickening, disruptions in the ellipsoid layer, hyperreflective dots, and damage to the external limiting membrane. The review examines OCT patterns of diabetic macular oedema in DKD, correlating these patterns with declines in kidney function and visual acuity. Additionally, we review various biomarkers linked to DR in DKD patients and the growing importance of novel imaging biomarkers in predicting and connecting the severity of DR with DKD.