Abstract
Purpose :
Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the leading cause of vision loss in adults. The prevalence of diagnosed diabetes mellitus (DM) in the United States has increased sharply since 1990. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of DR in an urban Chicago eye clinic
Methods :
Data of a cross-sectional sample of 83,109 adult subjects (≥18 years old) who had comprehensive eye exams at an urban multidisciplinary eye clinic, the Illinois Eye Institute, from 2011 to 2016 were analyzed by a retrospective review of their electronic health records (EHR). Vision-threatening DR (VTDR) was defined as presence of severe non-proliferative DR, proliferative DR, or clinically significant macular edema.
Results :
A total of 16,671 subjects (20.1%) self-reported that they had DM. Through comprehensive eye exam, DR was diagnosed in 4,090 (25.0%) of DM subjects, including 1,887 subjects with VTDR (46.1% of DR subjects and 11.3% of DM subjects) and 2,203 subjects with non-VTDR. The prevalence of VTDR among subjects with DR was higher in non-Hispanic Blacks (45.2%) and Hispanic/Latinos (51.2%) compared to non-Hispanic Whites (39.2%).
Conclusions :
Prevalence of DR in this population is comparable to other studies in the United States. However, the prevalence of VTDR is significantly higher in this population compared to other published studies. In addition, we found that the prevalence of VTDR is higher in non-Hispanic Blacks and Hispanic/Latinos than in non-Hispanic Whites. Our findings further indicate the need for comprehensive eye exam among diabetic populations of urban areas.
This abstract was presented at the 2019 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Vancouver, Canada, April 28 - May 2, 2019.