Prevalence of diabetic retinopathy among diabetic patients in a tertiary hospital
Ma. Florentina Fajardo-Gomez, MD, Harvey S. Uy, MD
Objective
To determine the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy (DR) among Filipino
patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and determine the risk factors.
Methods
Two hundred forty-one patients from the diabetes clinic of the University
of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) were interviewed
using a standard questionnaire. They underwent dilated retinal examination,
stereoscopic fundus photography, fluorescein angiography, and laboratory
testing. The risk factors studied for the presence of DR were age; sex; duration
of DM; medications; family history of DM; smoking; blood glucose, cholesterol,
and serum creatinine levels.
Results
The clinical and angiographic prevalence of DR were 61.8% and 83.6%
respectively. Retinopathy was significantly associated with the duration of
DM (p = 0.02) and elevation of serum creatinine (p = 0.05). Approximately
20% had proliferative disease at the time of screening. There was a high agreement between clinical and angiographic findings (kappa = 0.91, p = 0.001).
Conclusions
High prevalence of DR was seen among DM patients treated at UP-PGH.
Elevated serum creatinine and longer duration of DM were significantly
associated with the presence of retinopathy. Retinal screening of all newly
diagnosed DM is, therefore, recommended including regular follow-up
evaluation.
Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, Retinopathy, Prevalence, Fluorescein angiography