Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Sep-Oct;7(5):975-981.
doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_85_18.

The prevalence and risk factors of diabetic retinopathy in selected primary care centers during the 3-year screening intervals

Sultan F Magliah  1 , Wedad Bardisi  2   3 , Maha Al Attah  3   4 , Manal M Khorsheed  5
Affiliations

The prevalence and risk factors of diabetic retinopathy in selected primary care centers during the 3-year screening intervals

Sultan F Magliah et al. J Family Med Prim Care. 2018 Sep-Oct.

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to determine the prevalence and progression of diabetic retinopathy (DR) and its risk factors in patients with diabetes attending primary care centers.

Methods: This study was a cross-sectional chart review that was conducted in three randomly selected primary care centers. A total of 250 patients with diabetes had three consecutive annual screenings for DR from April 2014 to April 2017. At the initial visit, the ophthalmological findings were recorded. For three successive yearly screening, the screening results were assessed to estimate the changes that occurred in the prevalence, incidence, and progression of DR in addition to the degree of association with the most predictable risk factors.

Results: The initial prevalence of DR was 15.2%. In this study, the findings over three consecutive screening intervals revealed that there was a steady increase in the prevalence of DR. The findings of this study showed that there was no significant association with DR and known risk factors including sex, type of diabetes mellitus (DM), obesity, and smoking. On the other hand, the duration of DM, hemoglobin A1c level, uncontrolled diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, nephropathy, insulin treatment, and age were identified as strong predictors of DR among diabetics in this study.

Conclusion: DR, a serious microvascular complication of DM, is an asymptomatic disease with a slow onset and gradual progression. Primary prevention is highly recommended to control the risk factors that will delay the onset and progression of DR.

Keywords: Diabetic retinopathy; prevalence; risk factors; screening interval.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Ogurtsova K, da Rocha Fernandes JD, Huang Y, Linnenkamp U, Guariguata L, Cho NH, et al. IDF Diabetes Atlas: Global estimates for the prevalence of diabetes for 2015 and 2040. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2017;128:40–50. - PubMed
    1. Al-Nozha MM, Al-Maatouq MA, Al-Mazrou YY, Al-Harthi SS, Arafah MR, Khalil MZ, et al. Diabetes mellitus in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Med J. 2004;25:1603–10. - PubMed
    1. Al-Quwaidhi AJ, Pearce MS, Sobngwi E, Critchley JA, O’Flaherty M. Comparison of type 2 diabetes prevalence estimates in Saudi Arabia from a validated Markov model against the International Diabetes Federation and other modelling studies. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2014;103:496–503. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cai X, McGinnis JF. Diabetic retinopathy: Animal models, therapies, and perspectives. J Diabetes Res 2016. 2016:3789217. - PMC - PubMed
    1. El-Bab MF, Shawky N, Al-Sisi A, Akhtar M. Retinopathy and risk factors in diabetic patients from Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Clin Ophthalmol. 2012;6:269–76. - PMC - PubMed