Abstract
Purpose :
Diabetic retinopathy is one of the main causes of blindness among the working age Australian population. This study investigates the relationship between demographic factors and diabetic ocular complications requiring vitreoretinal surgery at the only tertiary eye hospital in Victoria, Australia.
Methods :
Single-centre retrospective study using data extracted from the Australian and New Zealand Society of Retinal Specialists Registry (2015-2019). Demographic information for all patients who underwent surgery for complications of proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital (RVEEH) were included. Population proportions were compared to 2016 Census of Population and Housing data for Victoria, and Primary Health Networks (PHN).
Results :
A total of 594 vitreoretinal surgeries for vitreous haemorrhage and tractional retinal detachment (47%) in 424 patients (60% male) were identified. Working age patients (25-65 years) made up 75% of the study population. The great majority of patients (75%) included in the study were insulin dependent despite only 18% of patients having type 1 diabetes mellitus.
Of the study population, 18% were born outside of Australia (as compared to Census 26%), with 14% identifying English not as their first language. 1.4% of patients identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander (Census 0.8%).
Geographically, in Victoria the PHN with the highest number of included patients was the North Western metropolitan region making up 34% of patients (Census 29%). Of the total, 19% of patients were from regional and rural Victoria (Census 24%).
Conclusions :
This study identifies working age men, who are insulin dependent as most at risk of PDR complications requiring surgery. There is also an association with geographical location, which may well be a proxy marker for socio-economic status. Aboriginal and / or Torres Strait Islander people appear to also be at higher risk. Interestingly, being born outside Australia, or from a regional / rural location do not seem to be risk factors in our population.
This work shows the importance of ocular screening in this population. Future work will involve characterization of ophthalmic screening access in the most at risk locations.
This abstract was presented at the 2022 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Denver, CO, May 1-4, 2022, and virtually.