Abstract
Background and Objectives: The global epidemic of diabetes, especially type 2 (DM2), is related to lifestyle changes, obesity, and the process of population aging. Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the most serious complication of the eye caused by diabetes. The aim of this research was to assess the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy in type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in north-east Poland. Materials and Methods: The eye fundus was assessed on the basis of two-field 50 degrees color fundus photographs that showed the optic nerve and macula in the center after the pupil was dilated with 1% tropicamide. Results: The experimental group included 315 (26%) patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM1) and 894 (74%) patients with DM2. DM1 patients were diagnosed with DR in 32.58% of cases, with non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) in 24.44% of cases, proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) in 1.59% of cases, diabetic macular edema (DME) in 5.40% of cases, and PDR with DME in 0.95% of cases. DR was found in DM2 patients in 23.04% of cases, NPDR in 17.11% of cases, PDR in 1.01% of cases, DME in 4.81% of cases, and PDR with DME in 0.11% of cases. Conclusions: The presented study is the first Polish study on the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy presenting a large group of patients, and its results could be extrapolated to the whole country. Diabetic retinopathy was found in 25.48% of patients in the whole experimental group. The above results place Poland within the European average, indicating the quality of diabetic care offered in Poland, based on the number of observed complications.
Highlights
Diabetes is the only non-communicable disease considered by the World Health Organization (WHO) to be an epidemic
The experimental group consisted of adult DM1 and DM2 patients who were diagnosed with diabetes according to the WHO criteria [9]
Severity of diabetic retinopathy was assessed according to the criteria of the International Clinical Classification for Diabetic Retinopathy, and the following stages were enumerated: no diabetic retinopathy; non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR); proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR); diabetic macular edema (DME) [10,11]
Summary
Diabetes is the only non-communicable disease considered by the World Health Organization (WHO) to be an epidemic. There are 463 million diabetic patients in the world, and this number is expected to exceed half a billion before 2045, with current forecasts suggesting that the global number of diabetic patients will reach 700 million. In Europe there are 59 million diabetic patients, and in Poland there are 2.34 million adult diabetic patients [1,2]. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) amounts for 85%–95% of diabetes cases, and a significant increase in the number of cases has been recorded in developing countries, including Poland [3,4]. The aim of this research was to assess the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy in type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in north-east Poland
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