Proportion and risk factors of epiretinal membrane in residents of Brussels with versus without diabetes mellitus

Purpose To compare the proportion of epiretinal membrane (ERM) between individuals with diabetes mellitus (DM) and without DM, who live in Brussels, to investigate possible risk factors for ERM formation and to compare the results with the ones of large population studies. Methods Participants were divided into two groups; 99 patients with DM (group A) and 103 individuals without DM (group B). All participants underwent an undilated 7-field color fundus photography and a spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). Age, gender, race, type of diabetes, duration of medical treatment of diabetes, HbA1C rate, smoking, previous cataract surgery and educational level were investigated as possible risk factors. Results Epiretinal membrane was detected in 17.2% of group A and in 11.7% of group B participants. The difference is not statistically significant (chi 2 (1) = 1.252, p = 0.263). The proportion of ERM was significantly associated with age in both groups (p = .009 and p < .001 respectively), as well as with smoking (p = .023) and previous cataract surgery (p = .028) in patients with DM. Conclusion There is no statistically significant difference of ERM proportion between the two groups of the study. Age was recognized as a risk factor for both groups, while smoking and previous cataract surgery were identified as predictors only for diabetics.