FREQUENCY OF RETINOPATHY IN NEWLY DIAGNOSED PATIENTS OF TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS (DM)

Retinopathy in Type 2 DM

Abstract

Objective: This study was to determine the frequency of retinopathy in newly diagnosed type-II Diabetics.

 Study Design: Cross sectional descriptive study.

 Place and Duration of Study: It was conducted at Department of medicine, Military Hospital (MH), Rawalpindi from 1st Jan 2012 to 30 Jun 2012.

Material and Methods: We included 200 patients of type-II DM from both genders diagnosed in last 03 months from both outdoor and indoor departments in the age range of 40 to 70 years by consecutive sampling. All patients having co morbidities affecting retina were excluded.  Informed written consent was taken before enrollment. Formal approval of the study was taken from hospital ethical committee. Ocular Fundoscopy was performed with WelchAllyn Ophthalmoscope (REF 11470) as per standard protocols and both eyes were examined. The grade of DR (diabetic retinopathy) awarded as per highest changes in any of the two eyes. All tests were carried by a single person to avoid inter-observer variations. Findings of ocular fundoscopy were confirmed by ophthalmologist. All data was analyzed by using SPSS version 11.

Results:  Out of 200 subjects 63.5% were male and 36.5% were female. Age ranged from 40 to 70 years with mean age of 51.05+ 6.910 years. 29 (14.5%) subjects had Diabetic retinopathy. Out of 29 patients, 24 (82.8%) had  preproliferative and 5 (17.2%) had proliferative diabetic retinopathy.

Conclusion: A significant proportion of diabetic patients have retinopathy at the time of diagnosis of their disease which is more common in males and with increasing age. It is recommended to thoroughly screen the newly diagnosed diabetics for early detection of diabetic retinopathy and its management involving early referral to eye specialist.