Prevalence Of Diabetic Retinopathy in Type 2 Diabetic Patients Attending Tertiary Care Hospital In Sikkim

Abstract

Purpose:- To estimate the prevalence of Diabetic Retinopathy and to find its association with age, gender and disease severity among type 2 diabetes mellitus. Methods:- This was a hospital based cross-sectional study conducted in the department of Ophthalmology. A total of 1000 type 2 diabetes mellitus patients underwent detailed ocular examinations for diabetic retinopathy. The International Classification of diabetic retinopathy was followed to categorize the severity of retinopathy. Results:- The overall prevalence of diabetic retinopathy was 17.4%, out of which, 55.17% were males and 44.8% females. 91.9% had non proliferative diabetic retinopathy among which, 51.7% had mild, 35.6% moderate and 4.6% severe retinopathy, whereas 8% patients had proliferative diabetic retinopathy. 14% were observed to be suffering from macular edema which on further classification showed as 42.8% mild, 31.4% moderate and 25.71% severe edema. 1.5% diabetic patients developed retinopathy after five years and 30.6% developed after more than 20 years. Conclusion:- This was the first study of its kind which estimated the prevalence of DR in a north east Indian hospital-based type 2 diabetic population (17.4%).The study also observed that the presence of DR, despite vision being near normal, strengthens a case for regular ocular examinations in diabetic patients. Our study alsoreated awareness among the patients about DR who were evaluated during the course of the study.