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Proportion of diabetic retinopathy among diabetics presenting for the first time to a tertiary eye institute in South India

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Abstract

Purpose

To detect the proportion of diabetic retinopathy (DR) among diabetics visiting a tertiary eye care institute and correlate presenting symptoms to clinical diagnosis.

Methods

The study recruited 1000 eyes of 1000 diabetics visiting a tertiary eye care institute in South India for the first time. Along with basic demographic data and systemic history, details of presenting complaints and clinical diagnosis were noted.

Results

Data from 956 cases were analyzed. There were 29 (3%) newly diagnosed diabetics and 927 (97%) known diabetics. The commonest reason for the hospital visit was diminution of vision (66%) followed by “visiting for a routine checkup” (22.3%). Diabetic retinopathy was seen in 492 (51.5%), cataract in 161(17%) and refractive error in 240 patients (79.2%). Vision-threatening DR was present in 216 cases (22.59%) and clinically significant macular edema in 73 cases (7.63%) at first presentation itself.

Conclusion

The cohort from a tertiary eye care institute has higher proportion of diabetic retinopathy, with vision-threatening DR at presentation. These data emphasize the need for more robust screening for DR, along with population awareness programs.

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Data availability

Data are available at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/y64ohl06gls3cyp/AADR1G-5SqXaPbrmii1mVxJKa?dl=0

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Aravind Eye Hospital and Postgraduate Institute of Ophthalmology, Thavalakuppam, Cuddalore Main Road, Pondicherry, 605007, India

    Manavi D. Sindal, Tejashree Sathe & Divya Yadav

  2. Future Vision Eye Care and Research Center, Mumbai, India

    Sabyasachi Sengupta

Authors
  1. Manavi D. Sindal
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  2. Tejashree Sathe
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  3. Sabyasachi Sengupta
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  4. Divya Yadav
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Contributions

MDS was involved in the conceptualization, methodology, supervision, visualization, writing—reviewing and editing. TS was involved in the data curation and writing original draft. SS contributed to the methodology, writing—reviewing and editing. DY was involved in the writing—original draft.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Manavi D. Sindal.

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Conflict of interest

The authors have no financial or non-financial interests to declare.

Ethical approval

The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board, Aravind Eye Hospitals Scientific committee, IRB Code: IRB201400169. The study adhered to the tenets of the declaration of Helsinki.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all participants.

Clinical trial registration

This was a cross-sectional observational study. Clinical trial registration is not necessary for this study.

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Presented as a paper at AIOC 2018, 76th Annual Conference of the All India Ophthalmological Society, February 22-25th, Coimbatore, India.

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Cite this article

Sindal, M.D., Sathe, T., Sengupta, S. et al. Proportion of diabetic retinopathy among diabetics presenting for the first time to a tertiary eye institute in South India. Int Ophthalmol 41, 2789–2796 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-021-01835-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-021-01835-9

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