Editorial: Diabetes and Eye

Diabetes mellitus is a pathological disorder of the sugar metabolism. Current estimates by the Robert Koch-Institute indicate a prevalence of 7.2 % of adults aged 18 to 79 years in Germany.¹ The high clinical relevance of diabetes can also be seen in the number of published articles in peer-reviewed journals. In this context, the PubMed search "Diabetes" on 10/27/2021 alone resulted in 840,127 entries. A total of 31,061 published articles were found on the topic "Diabetes and Eye".

3000 years ago, the ancient Egyptians described clinical symptoms similar to diabetes mellitus. The term diabetes was first used by the Greek physician Araetus of Cappadocia, 81 - 133 AD. The British physician Thomas Willis added the word mellitus to the term in 1675 based on the sweetness of urine and blood in diseased patients.

The OCL January/February 2022 issue is focused on the overall complex of diabetes and eye. Excellent scientists and clinicians from UK, USA and Germany from the disciplines of optometry and ophthalmology are the authors of the following publications.

• Risk factors for the development and progression of diabetic retinopathy
• Possible ocular effects of anti-diabetes medications, and their relevance to contact lens wear
• The impact of diabetes mellitus and hyperglycaemia on the refractive status of the eye
• Fast Progression to Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy

All four articles are equally interesting for opticians, optometrists and ophthalmologists. All three professional groups are confronted in this issue with different questions around the topic eye and diabetes. The topics of risk factors, antidiabetic drugs, refractive stability and the whole complex of diabetic retinopathy are of great clinical relevance in the context of the eye care of potential patients with diabetes. For this reason, the OCL editorial team is pleased to have found such profound authors.

With this special issue "Diabetes and Eye", the OCL editorial team hopes to meet the reader's interest for current and interesting publications in the OCL. With this in mind, I hope all of our readers enjoy studying this first OCL issue of 2022.

Your Wolfgang Cagnolati

[1] Heidemann, C., Scheidt-Nave, C. (2017). Diabetes-Surveillance in Deutschland – Hintergrund, Konzept, Ausblick. J. Health Monit., 2, 91-104.