Background To describe clinical and imaging characteristics of patients presenting with diabetic retinopathy (DR) with coexisting acute or chronic central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR).

Methods This was a cross-sectional study which included 54 eyes of 27 patients with coexisting DR and CSCR. Demographic details, prior history of laser, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), central macular thickness (CMT), height of neurosensory detachment (NSD), subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT), subfoveal large choroidal vessel layer thickness (SF-LCVT), fluorescein angiography and indocyanine green angiography features were recorded. Subanalysis was done for patients with unilateral CSCR. Data was evaluated using Student t-test for quantitative data and χ² test for qualitative data. CSCR between different grades of DR was analysed using analysis of variance.

Results Prevalence of coexistent CSCR in eyes with DR was 0.4%. Mean age was 53.96±8.79 years, with 25 males. Mean CMT was 349.2±258 μm. Mean SFCT and SF- LCVT of 38 eyes were 376.40±86 μm and 178.80±62.8 μm, respectively. Fifteen eyes had centre involving diabetic macular oedema. Subanalysis of patients with unilateral CSCR showed that the loss of inner segment-outer segment (IS-OS) integrity (p=0.001), photoreceptor footplates at the NSD roof (p=0.001) on optical coherence tomography and dilated choroidal vessels (p=0.05) on indocyanine green angiography were found more often in the CSCR eyes compared with their fellow eyes. Features of CSCR among the different grades of DR were not significantly different between the groups.

Conclusion Our study describes features of a unique subset of patients presenting with coexistent DR and CSCR. Such coexistent nature needs special attention by the clinicians as this may change the treatment approach and alter outcomes.