Mahmood Ali, Sarah Zafar, Muhammad Sadiq, Farah Akhtar, Wajid Ali Khan.
Frequency of Diabetic Retinopathy among the Known Diabetic patients at a Tertiary Care Eye Hospital.
Al-Shifa J Ophthalmol Jan ;14(2):99-106.

Objectives: To report the frequency of diabetic retinopathy (DR) among the known diabetics presenting for the first time at Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital (ASTEH) Rawalpindi. Subjects and Methods: A cross sectional observational study conducted at out-patient department of ASTEH Rawalpindi from 01st April 2015 to 30th September 2015. After an informed verbal consent and history taking of all the patients, a detailed ocular examination was conducted including visual acuity, slit lamp examination and dilated fundus assessment. DR was graded according to International Clinical Diabetic Retinopathy and Diabetic Macular Edema Disease Severity Scale. All this information was recorded on a proforma and data analysis was done using SPSS version 18.0. Results: Out of 200 total participants, 85 (42.5%) were male and 115 (57.5%) were female. Mean age of the participants was 56.0 (+- 9.740) years while mean duration of diabetes was 8.468 (+- 6.034) years. DR was detected in 105 (52.5%) patients among which 44 (22%) patients had Proliferative DR and 57 (28.5%) patients had diabetic macular edema. Severity of DR was significantly associated with age (p=0.004), duration of DM (p>0.001) and blood sugar status (p=0.001). Conclusion: Frequency of DR is high in our diabetic patients. More attention should be paid towards measures like improving awareness among diabetics and training of general physicians in diagnosing the condition.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com