Natural history of retinopathy in children and young people with type 1 diabetes

Abstract

PurposeTo describe the prevalence and natural history of retinopathy in a cohort of children and young people with type 1 diabetes attending a tertiary hospital diabetes clinic.MethodsWe analysed retinopathy screening data from 2008 to 2010 on all eligible children using the 'Twinkle' diabetes database and the regional retinal screening database.ResultsA total of 88% (149/169) of eligible children were screened in 2008, median age 14 years, 52% male. The prevalence of retinopathy was 19.5% (30/149). All children had background retinopathy grade R1. There was significant difference in median (range) duration of diabetes, 7.7 years (0.6-13.7) vs 5 years (0.2-12.5) (P<0.001) and median (range) HbA1C, 9.1% (7.2-14) vs 8.6% (5.6-13.1) (P=0.02), between the groups with and without retinopathy. At 2- years follow-up, 12/30 (40%) had unchanged retinopathy grade R1, 10/30 (33.3%) showed resolution of changes (R0), 1/30 progressed to maculopathy, and 7/30 had no follow-up data. Median (range) HbA1C in 2008 and 2010 for the groups with stable vs resolved changes was similar, 9.1% (7.2-14.0) and 9.2% (7-14.0) vs 9.5% (7.8-14.0) and 9.2% (8.7-14.0). Of the 119 without retinopathy in 2008, 27 (22.5%) had developed retinopathy within 2 years, including 1 with pre-proliferative retinopathy and 1 with maculopathy. There was no significant difference in HbA1c between those who progressed to retinopathy (8.7% (7.1-13.1)) (8.7% (7.1-13.1)), and those who did not (8.6% (6.3-12.2)).ConclusionsPrevalence of background retinopathy in our cohort was comparable to the previously published reports, with higher HbA1c and longer duration of diabetes being significant risk factors. On short-term follow-up, Grade 1 retinopathy is likely to resolve in a third of patients and remain unchanged in just over a third.

IDF Diabetes Atlas: A review of studies utilising retinal photography on the global prevalence of diabetes related retinopathy between 2015 and 2018

“…In Europe the majority of the studies, 7 out of 9 were population based with the remaining 2 studies derived from hospital populations (Table 1). Of the 9 studies, a third included a mixed population of individuals with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes [19,15,17], a third were restricted to people with type 2 diabetes [11][12][13] and a third involved only type 1 diabetes [14,15,17] with a slight preponderance of males in most studies (range 49.0-62.9%). In 6 studies [10-12,14,16,18] the period of observation commenced from 2005 onwards for periods ranging from 1 to 10 years duration, and with the others starting before 2000 at 1972 [13], 1983 [15] and 1999 [17] and lasting for 14, 27 and 10 years respectively.…”

Nomogram for prediction of non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy in juvenile-onset type 1 diabetes: a cohort study in an Asian population

“…This finding indicates poor glycemic control in juvenile-onset T1DM patients in Taiwan compared with those in Western countries. Although the mean HbA1c level is higher in T1DM patients in Taiwan, the prevalence of NPDR (10.4% in 97 months) is lower than those reported from Western countries (17% in 60 months in the US, 27.3% in 2 years in the UK) 37 , 38 . Genetic factors such as DR-associated alleles and environmental factors such as lifestyle or diet may contribute to this difference 2 .…”

Risk factors associated with retinopathy in young people with type 1 diabetes in Bangladesh

“…Similar finding (early retinopathy) was found in our previous study done in young patients with diabetes 32 . Majority had early retinopathy in a study done in 119 children with type 1 diabetes in UK 33 …”