Introduction:

Regional parafoveal vessel density changes have not been characterized in patients with type 2 diabetes without retinopathy.

Objective:

To compare regional changes in vessel density between subjects without diabetes (group 1) and with diabetes without retinopathy (group 2).

Methods:

Observational, retrospective, cross-sectional, comparative study. Parafoveal vessel density by quadrants was compared between groups and between quadrants in each group; density of each quadrant and inner density were correlated, as well as the contribution of each quadrant to inner density (linear regression).

Results:

Thirty four eyes were analyzed in group 1 and 38 in group 2; in the latter, inner vessel density (20.75 vs. 21.85, p = 0.021) and that of superior quadrants (21.05 vs. 21.75, p < 0.001) and nasal quadrants (20.95 vs. 21.50, p = 0.023) were lower. In the regression analysis, superior and nasal quadrants had the largest contribution to the change in inner vessel density in group 2 (β = 0.361 and β = 0.294, respectively).

Conclusions:

Parafoveal inner vessel density decreases in diabetic patients without retinopathy at the expense of superior and nasal quadrants, which indicates that further evaluation is required in order for early microvascular disease to be detected.