MONDAY, June 20 (HealthDay News) -- Retinal screening every three years can be recommended in patients with mild type 2 diabetes and no retinopathy, according to a study published in the June issue of Diabetes Care.
Elisabet Agardh, M.D., and Poya Tababat-Khani, M.D., of the Skåne University Hospital Malmö in Sweden, described the incidence of sight-threatening vascular lesions in patients with type 2 diabetes without retinopathy, after a three-year interval screening program was adopted. A total of 1,322 patients without detectable retinopathy in two 50-degree red-free fundus photographs at baseline underwent follow-up with photography after three years. Patients were diagnosed with diabetes at age 60±12 years, with a known duration of diabetes of 6±6 years, and their treatment consisted of only diet (26 percent), oral agents (54 percent), or oral agents and/or insulin (20 percent).
The investigators found that after three years, 73 percent of patients were still without retinopathy, and 28 percent had developed mild or moderate retinopathy. None of the patients developed severe nonproliferative or proliferative retinopathy. One patient developed an eye macular edema, which required laser coagulation.
"Three-year retinal screening intervals can be recommended in subjects with mild type 2 diabetes and no retinopathy," the authors write.
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