Unique composition of ocular surface microbiome in the old patients with dry eye and diabetes mellitus in a community from Shanghai, China

Background This study investigates the variations in microbiome abundance and diversity on the ocular surfaces of diabetic patients suffering from dry eye within a community setting.

The goal is to offer theoretical insights for the community-level prevention and treatment of dry eye in diabetic cohorts.

Methods Dry eye screening was performed in the Shanghai Cohort Study of Diabetic Eye Disease (SCODE) from July 15, 2021, to August 15, 2021, in the Xingjing community; this study included both a population with diabetes and a normal population.

The population with diabetes included a dry eye group (DM-DE, n  = 40) and a non-dry eye group (DM-NoDE, n  = 39).

The normal population included a dry eye group (NoDM-DE, n  = 40) and a control group (control, n  = 39).

High-throughput sequencing of the 16 S rRNA V3-V4 region was performed on conjunctival swab from both eyes of each subject, and the composition of microbiome on the ocular surface of each group was analyzed.

Results Significant statistical differences were observed in both α and β diversity of the ocular surface microbiome among the diabetic dry eye, diabetic non-dry eye, non-diabetic dry eye, and normal control groups ( P  < 0.05).

Conclusions The study revealed distinct microecological compositions on the ocular surfaces between the diabetic dry eye group and other studied groups.

Firmicutes and Anoxybacillus were unique bacterial phyla and genera in the dry eye with DM group, while Actinobacteria and Corynebacterium were unique bacterial phyla and genera in the normal control group.