Prevalence of diabetic retinopathy in the United Arab Emirates: a cross-sectional survey

Abstract

BackgroundDiabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the leading causes of blindness. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence and determinants of retinopathy among diabetics in Al-Ain city, United Arab Emirates (UAE).MethodsThe study was part of a general cross-sectional survey carried out to assess the prevalence of diabetes (DM) complications including retinopathy among known diabetic patients in Al-Ain District, UAE. Patients were randomly selected during 2003/2004. Patients completed an interviewer-administered questionnaire carried out by treating doctors and underwent a complete medical assessment. All patients were examined for evidence of diabetic retinopathy by ophthalmologist and their fundi were examined using slit lamp examination and fundus photography of each eye through dilated pupils.ResultsA sample of 513 diabetic patients was selected with a mean age of 53 years (SD ± 13.01). Retinopathy was present in 19% (95% CI: 15.1–23.5%) of the study population. Most patients (74%) were not aware of their condition. The disease was more common among males (24.2 vs. 13.9%; p = 0.016), increased with increasing age (p = 0.004) and disease duration (p = 0.0001). Type I DM was a highly significantly contributing risk factor (38.3% for type 1, vs. 16.4% for type 2; p < 0.0001). Retinopathy was higher among patients with hypertension, microalbuminuria, peripheral vascular disease, coronary artery disease and neuropathy.ConclusionThe prevalence of DR in the UAE was (19%) and significantly affected elderly males. Regular screening to detect DR is highly recommended as with the early detection of proliferative retinopathy and timely laser photocoagulation which are known to prevent most of the diabetes related blindness.

Prevalence of Diabetic Retinopathy in Type-2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients in Tripura

“…2,3,4,7,10,13,14,15,17 HbA1c is found to be statistically significant risk factor for DR in our study also. HbA1c in non -retinopathy, NPDR, PDR, and ADR group were 7.36, 8.44, and 8.89 respectively.…”

“…2, 4-8 However a number of studies showed a lower prevalence of diabetic retinopathy. 1,3,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15] Factors like unawareness of diabetes among the population, lack of facilities to check regularly retinopathy and other complications could have attributed to the higher prevalence of diabetic retinopathy in our study.…”

Prevalence of various stages of Diabetic Retinopathy in patients of Diabetes Mellitus-Type 2

“…Similarly in a study conducted by Purushottam A et.al 16 it was found that diabetic retinopathy was higher among the males (64.10%), elderly patients, and those having longer duration of diabetic mellitus . Similarly, studies conducted by Zhang et al, 11 Maskari et al, 12 and Raman et al 13 also found that diabetic retinopathy was slightly more prevalent among men than women i.e. 31.6%, 24.2%, and 23.9%, respectively.…”

“…Diabetes can lead to both macrovascular complications like coronary artery disease, peripheral arterial disease, and stroke and microvascular complications like diabetic 10 Zhang et al, 11 Maskariet al, 12 Raman et al, 13 Javadiet al, 14 and Gunnlaugsdottir et al, 15 revealed that the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy to be 28.9%, 28.5%, 19%, 18%, 37%, and 27%, respectively. The differences may be attributed to the fact that in the present study we examined only those patients of diabetes who attended the ophthalmology OPD for some complain or the other .…”

The Impact of Expanding the Screening Interval for Diabetic Retinopathy in Primary Care Centers

“…In Saudi Arabia, nephropathy, neuropathy, insulin use, poor glycemic control, hypertension and male gender significantly increased the risk for diabetic retinopathy, while smoking, hyperlipidemia and obesity significantly were associated with reduced risk for diabetic retinopathy among Saudi type 2 diabetics [9]. Regular screening is the best method for the early detection of diabetic retinopathy and is strongly recommended since early detection has the best chance of preventing retinal complications and blindness [5,7,11,12]. In the primary care setting, patients should be referred by a healthcare professional to an ophthalmologist or an optometrist who should perform a comprehensive eye examination including a dilated fundoscopy.…”