Health Dictionary
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Diabetic retinopathy epidemiology and demographics
Introduction
Overview
Overview
Between 40 to 45 percent of Americans diagnosed with diabetes have some stage of diabetic retinopathy. [1]
Epidemiology and Demographics
Epidemiology and Demographics
The prevalence of all types of diabetic retinopathy in the diabetic population increases with the duration of the disease and patient age.
Diabetic retinopathy is rare in children younger than 10 years of age. However , the risk of developing diabetic retinopathy increases after puberty.
The Wisconsin Epidemiologic Study of Diabetic Retinopathy
The Wisconsin Epidemiologic Study of Diabetic Retinopathy (WESDR) is an ongoing epidemiologic study the progression of diabetic retinopathy on basis of monitoring the stereoscopic fundus by taking photographs in 7 standard fields along with measurements of glycosylated hemoglobin levels and visual acuity.[2]
An important epidemiologic finding of the WESDR was the direct association of an increased prevalence of diabetic retinopathy, in both type 1 and type 2 forms, with the duration of diabetes mellitus.[2]
After 20 years of diabetes mellitus, nearly 99% of patients with type 1 and 60% with type 2 disease demonstrated some degree of diabetic retinopathy. Proliferative diabetic retinopathy was found in 50% of type 1 patients who had 20 years’ duration of disease and in 25% of type 2 patients who had 25 years’ duration of disease. Furthermore, 3.6% of younger-onset patients (aged <30 years at diagnosis, an operational definition of type 1 diabetes mellitus) and 1.6% of older-onset patients (aged ≥30 years at diagnosis, an operational definition of type 2 diabetes mellitus) were found to have a visual acuity of 20/200 or worse. Such vision loss was attributable to diabetic retinopathy in 86% of the younger-onset patients and in 33% of the older-onset group. WESDR epidemiologic data were based largely on white populations of northern European descent and therefore are not entirely applicable to other racial groups.
According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III, in 2011, the age-adjusted percentage of adults with diagnosed diabetes mellitus who reported visual impairment was 20.7% for blacks, 17.1% for whites, and 15.6% for Hispanics.[3]
References
References
- ↑ “NIHSeniorHealth: Diabetic Retinopathy – Causes and Risk Factors”. Diabetic Retinopathy. NIHSenior Health. 2005.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Klein, Ronald; Knudtson, Michael D.; Lee, Kristine E.; Gangnon, Ronald; Klein, Barbara E.K. (2009-01-22). “The Wisconsin Epidemiologic Study of Diabetic Retinopathy XXIII: The Twenty-five-Year Incidence of Macular Edema in Persons with Type 1 Diabetes”. Ophthalmology. Elsevier BV. 116 (3): 497–503. doi:10.1016/j.ophtha.2008.10.016. ISSN 0161-6420. PMC 2693093. PMID 19167079.
- ↑ “NHANES – National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Homepage”. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2018-02-24. Retrieved 2018-03-04.
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1] Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Rohan Bir Singh, M.B.B.S.[2]