Diabetic retinopathy screening in diabetic patients attending non communicable disease clinic at tertiary health care hospital

Abstract

To streamline regular visits of NCD clinic diabetic patients for retina screening in relation to duration of disease, severity of diabetic retinopathy, magnitude of visual impairment and blindness. : Hospital based observational analytical cross-sectional study.200 diabetic patients attending Non Communicable Disease clinic from January 2020- May 2021 above 18years of age were included and dilated retinal examination using Indirect ophthalmoscope were classified according to ETDRS classification after doing visual assessment.Analysis was done using Chi-square test, ANOVA, t-test. A p value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.93.5% were screened for first time, the point prevalence being 27.5%. 24% males and 33% females had diabetic retinopathy. The mean age was 52.4±9.168 years of diabetic retinopathy patients (P=0.01). 7.2% had unilateral diabetic retinopathy. 26.41% had DR in <5yrs, 45.28% in 6-10yrs, 18.85% in 11-15yrs, 9.43% in >15yrs. Mean duration diabetes of patients having DR was 8.88±4.99 years. 35 patients (63.63%) were insulin dependent. DME was found to be 22.7% and STDR was 13%.The study made NCD diabetic patients aware of importance of retinal check up. Duration of diabetes, severity of diabetic retinopathy and visual impairment are interrelated.