Abstract
Aims/Purpose: Diabetic eye disease is a leading cause of blindness worldwide and diabetes‐related eye conditions are frequent presentations in Eye Emergency Departments (EEDs). Early detection and intervention of inadequate blood glucose control in the EED could be sight‐saving.The aims of this study are to determine the: prevalence of pre‐existing diabetes mellitus (DM) in the EED. prevalence of suboptimal (HbA1c 53–70 mmol/mol) or poor (HbA1c >70 mmol/mol) glycaemic control in the EED. proportion of diabetes patients with this diagnosis documented in the EED. proportion of EED patients at risk of undiagnosed diabetes. number of EED patients that had a capillary blood glucose measurement (BgM). Methods: A retrospective review of 683 patients attending the EED over 10 consecutive weekdays at Manchester Royal Eye Hospital, Manchester, United Kingdom. The following parameters were assessed: EED documentation: patient age, gender, presentation, diagnosis, management plan and whether a BgM was done. General Practitioner records: diabetes diagnosis cross‐referenced with EED documentation. If diabetes patients: diabetes type, duration, and glycaemic control. Potentially undiagnosed diabetes. Results: The prevalence of diabetes patients was 9.5%–64.6% of these patients had diabetes documented in EED and 1 had a capillary BgM. 70.7% of diabetes patients had pre‐existing suboptimal [33.8%] or poor [36.9%] glycaemic control. 8.5% of patients were considered high‐risk for undiagnosed diabetes of which 1 had a BgM.Conclusions: There is a high prevalence of diabetes patients in the EED, and most have inadequate glycaemic control. This makes the EED an important setting to detect patients at high risk of diabetes‐related ocular disease and complications. BgM testing for all suspected patients is a quick test to allow earlier detection and intervention of inadequately controlled diabetes and reduce the risk of diabetes‐related vision loss.
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