Prevalence of ocular fundus pathology with type 2 diabetes in a Chinese urban community as assessed by telescreening

• Published in: BMJ open Vol. 3; no. 12; p. e004146
• Main Authors: Liu, Lei, Geng, Jin, Wu, Jingyang, Yuan, Zhe, Lian, Jie, Desheng, Huang, Chen, Lei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BMJ Publishing Group LTD 01.01.2013; BMJ Publishing Group
• Subjects: Age; Alcohol; Blood pressure; Diabetes; Diabetic retinopathy; Family physicians; Glaucoma; Health Policy; Hypertension; Laboratories; Macular degeneration; Pathology; Patients; Questionnaires; Signs; Smoking; China; Japan
• ISSN: 2044-6055; 2044-6055
• DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2013-004146

Objective To describe the telescreening model and assess the prevalence of ocular fundus pathology in patients with type 2 diabetes within a Chinese urban community. Design Community-based cross-sectional study. Setting Healthcare centre of Fengyutan Community, Shenyang, China. Participants A total 528 patients (287 females) with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) were randomly recruited using health files from the healthcare centre of Fengyutan community between 8 October and 20 November 2012. Main outcome measures Signs of any diabetic retinopathy (DR), signs of glaucoma and signs of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Results The main ocular fundus pathologies were DR (75 patients, 14.20%), 65 (86.67%) cases of which were newly detected, AMD (57 patients, 10.79%) and glaucoma (63 patients, 11.93%). The risk factors for fundus pathology were long duration of diabetes (OR 2.31, 95% CI 1.87 to 2.56), and higher fasting plasma glucose (OR 3.64, 95% CI 1.81 to 5.21) and glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) levels (OR 3.83, 95% CI 1.87 to 6.35). Conclusions There was a high prevalence of fundus pathology among patients with type 2 diabetes, and in most of the cases, this was newly detected. Community screening for fundus pathology among patients with a long duration of type 2 diabetes and high fasting plasma glucose and HbA1c levels using a telescreening model will provide an effective strategy for the prevention and treatment of fundus pathology.