RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Diabetic retinopathy has a significant impact in every healthcare system. Despite that fact, there are few accurate estimates in the prevalence of DR in Brazil's different geographic regions, particularly proliferative DR and diabetic macular edema. This study aims to determine the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy in Brazil's five continental regions and its determinant factors. METHODS: This multi center, cross-sectional, observational study, conducted between August 2011 and December 2014, included patients with type 1 diabetes from the 5 Brazilian geographic regions (South, Southeast, North, Northeast and Midwest). During a clinical visit, a structured questionnaire was applied, blood sampling was collected and each patient underwent mydriatic binocular indirect ophthalmoscopy evaluation. RESULTS: Data was obtained from 1644 patients, aged 30.2 ± 12 years (56.1% female, 54.4% Caucasian), with a diabetes duration of 15.5 ± 9.3 years. The prevalence of diabetic retinopathy was 242 (36.1%) in the Southeast, 102 (42.9%) in the South, 183 (29.9%) in the North and Northeast and 54 (41.7%) in the Midwest. Multinomial regression showed no difference in the prevalence of non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy in each geographic region, although, prevalence of proliferative diabetic retinopathy (p = 0.022), and diabetic macular edema (p = 0.003) was higher in the Midwest. Stepwise analyses reviled duration of diabetes, level of HbA1c and hypertension as independent variables. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of non proliferative diabetic retinopathy in patients with type 1 diabetes was no different between each geographic region of Brazil. The Midwest presented higher prevalence of proliferative diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular edema. Duration of DM and glycemic control is of central importance to all. Hypertension is another fundamental factor to every region, at special in the South and Southeast. Glycemic control and patients in social and economic vulnerability deserves special attention in the North and Northeast of Brazil.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Diabetic retinopathy is the main cause of preventable blindness in the economically active population in western countries. Diabetic retinopathy screening is effective in preventing blindness and can be performed through various diagnostic methods. Our objective is to compare binocular indirect ophthalmoscopy (BIO) to telemedicine protocols of digital retinography for diabetic retinopathy screening in a large and heterogenous type 1 diabetes population in a developing country. METHODS: Data from 1266 Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus patients from a Brazilian multicenter study were analyzed. Patients underwent BIO and digital retinography, non-mydriatic and mydriatic. Images were sent to a reading center in a telemedicine protocol. Agreement between the different methods was calculated with kappa statistic for diabetic retinopathy and maculopathy classification. Clinical outcome was either observation or referral to specialist. RESULTS: Agreement between BIO and mydriatic retinography was substantial (kappa 0.67-0.74) for diabetic retinopathy observation vs referral classification. Agreement was fair to moderate (kappa 0.24-0.45) between retinography and BIO for maculopathy. Poor mydriasis was the main obstacle to image reading and classification, especially on the non-mydriatic strategy, occurring in 11.9 % of right eyes and 16.9 % of left eyes. CONCLUSION: Mydriatic retinography showed a substantial agreement to BIO for diabetic retinopathy observation vs referral classification. A significant amount of information was lost on the non-mydriatic technique because of poor mydriasis. We recommend a telemedicine-based diabetic retinopathy screening strategy with digital mydriatic retinography, preferably with 2 fields, and advise against non-mydriatic retinography in developing countries.