Evaluating digital diabetic retinopathy screening in people aged 90 years and over

Abstract

To evaluate the effectiveness of digital diabetic retinopathy screening in patients aged 90 years and over.MethodsThis is a retrospective analysis of 200 randomly selected patients eligible for diabetic retinopathy screening aged 90 years and over within the Birmingham, Solihull, and Black Country Screening Programme.ResultsOne hundred and seventy-nine (90%) patients attended screening at least once. 133 (74%) annual screening after their first screen, of whom 59% had no detectable diabetic retinopathy; 38 (21%) were referred for ophthalmology clinical assessment-36 for nondiabetic retinopathy reasons and two for diabetic maculopathy. Cataract accounted for 50% of all referrals for ophthalmology clinical assessment. Of the 133 patients placed on annual screening, 93 (70%) were screened at least once more. In terms of level of diabetic retinopathy, assessability or other ocular pathologies, 8 improved, 51 remained stable, and 31 deteriorated. Of the latter, 19 patients were referred for ophthalmology clinical assessment; none of these for diabetic retinopathy.ConclusionsScreening provides opportunistic identification of important nondiabetic retinopathy eye conditions. However, in view of the low identification rate of sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy in patients aged 90 years and over, and the current mission statement of the NHS Diabetic Eye Screening Programme, systematic annual diabetic retinopathy screening may not be justified in this age group of patients, but rather be performed in optometric practice.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/eye.2015.130
Divisions: College of Health & Life Sciences > School of Optometry > Optometry
College of Health & Life Sciences > School of Optometry > Optometry & Vision Science Research Group (OVSRG)
College of Health & Life Sciences
College of Health & Life Sciences > School of Optometry > Vision, Hearing and Language
Additional Information: Previously presented at Diabetes UK and The Royal College of Ophthalmologists conferences.
Uncontrolled Keywords: diabetic retinopathy,screening,older adults,Ophthalmology
Publication ISSN: 1476-5454
Last Modified: 09 Feb 2024 08:05
Date Deposited: 20 Oct 2015 14:30
Full Text Link: http://www.natu ... ye2015130a.html
Related URLs: http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2015-11
Published Online Date: 2015-07-17
Authors: Tye, A.
Wharton, H.
Wright, A.
Yang, Y.
Gibson, J. (ORCID Profile 0000-0002-9281-5244)
Syed, A.
Mills, A.
Dodson, P.

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