THURSDAY, Jan. 16, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- A United Kingdom study proposes recommendations on how often to screen for diabetes-related eye disease.
The study, in this week's issue of The Lancet, included more than 7,500 people with diabetes. It provides information about the incidence of diabetic eye disease and also offers recommendations for how often people with diabetes should have their eyes checked.
Diabetic retinopathy -- diabetes-caused damage to retinal cells in the eye -- is a leading cause of vision loss in developed countries.
The researchers say their screening recommendations would be 95 percent effective in detecting sight-threatening retinopathy.
The study proposes that people with diabetes who have no retinopathy have their eyes checked every three years; those with no retinopathy who use insulin or have had diabetes for more than 20 years should be screened every year; people with background retinopathy should be screened every year; and people with mild preproliferative retinopathy should be screened every four months.
More information
Here's where you can learn more about diabetic retinopathy.
