Abstract
Purpose :
Diabetic retinal disease (DRD) is the leading cause of blindness in working-age adults in the developed world. Despite recent advances in treatment over the past decade, many patients still lose eyesight to the disease. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the current state of visual loss due to DRD.
Methods :
The Sight Outcomes Research Collaborative was used to identify all patients with DRD, diabetic macular edema (DME), and proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). Cohorts for each of the three diseases were created using ICD9 and ICD10 codes to identify patients based on the first date of diagnosis within the database. Patients in each cohort had their vision assessed at the index date, then, when available, again at years 1,2,3, and 5 after inclusion in the cohort. The primary outcome of the study was the percentage of eyes with vision deficits to the level of 20/70 and 20/200 or worse at each of the above time points.
Results :
120,838 (63,723 patients), 23,001 (17,136 patients), and 38,372 eyes (28,233 patients) were included for analysis in the DRD, DME and PDR cohorts respectively. At the time of inclusion, 21.7% and 12.0% of DRD eyes had vision worse than 20/70 and 20/200 respectively. This percentage varied little over the next 5 years (≥20/70 VA: 20.0%-10.9%; ≥20/200 VA: 10.7%-11.4%). The percent of eyes with DME and 20/70 or worse vision initially decreased from 26.3% to 24.5% at 1 year but increased to 28.1% at year 5. Similarly DME eyes with ≥20/200 vision also initially decreased from 11.7% to 11.1%, then increased to 14.0% at year 5. PDR eyes with 20/70 or worse vision started at 45.3% but decreased to 37.3% at year 5. Similar improvement was seen in PDR with 20/200 or worse vision starting at 29.4% and improving to 22.9%.
Conclusions :
Visual deficits due to DRD remain a significant concern despite advances in therapies for DRD.
This abstract was presented at the 2024 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, WA, May 5-9, 2024.