The Prevalence of Retinopathy Among Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients in Al-hindeya City, Karbala, Iraq

Abstract

Background: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the commonest cause of vision impairment in many countries. The global rising in diabetes mellitus incidence highlighted the importance of regular screening, early detection, and management of DR. Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of retinopathy in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients and to find the commonest types of retinopathy.Methods: Three years, cross sectional study evaluating 295 patients with T2DM older than 35 year for the presence of DR. The participants underwent full history record, thorough clinical examination, and laboratory screening for glycemic control. Each patient had detailed ophthalmological examination including best corrected visual acuity, dilated fundus examination and optical coherence tomography (OCT) for clinically suspected macular edema.Results: The cohort female to male ratio was 1.2:1, mean age was 54.8 ± 8.7 years, and mean duration of disease was 9.8 ± 5.7 years. Different grades of DR were diagnosed in 79 patients. Background, maculopathy, proliferative, and advanced retinopathy were reported in 20(25.3%), 41(51.9%), 8(10.1%), and 10(12.7%) patients, respectively.Conclusions: The prevalence of DR was 27% and maculopathy and background retinopathy were the commonest types accounting for 51.9% and 25.3% of all types of retinopathy, respectively.

Keywords: Type 2 diabetes mellitus, Diabetic retinopathy, Maculopathy.