Frequency of diabetic retinopathy in patients with diabetes mellitus and its correlation with duration of diabetes mellitus

Purpose : To evaluate the correlation between diabetic retinopathy (DR) and duration of diabetes mellitus (DM). Materials and Methods : A cross-sectional study was carried out in 500 patients who were reported diabetics or newly diagnosed diabetics referred for screening for DR. Patients with posterior segment disease in whom posterior segment was not visualized were excluded from the study. A detailed evaluation of patients diabetic and hypertensive status was done along with their detailed ophthalmological examination. All patients were investigated for blood sugar levels, urine sugar levels, and HbA 1 C. Grading of DR was done by the ETDRS grading system. Results : Total prevalence of DR is 32%. Among these, non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) is seen in 71.88% and proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) in 28.12% patients. This study shows an increasing prevalence of DR with increasing duration of DM. The prevalence of DR was seen to be 9.44% when duration of diabetes detected was less than 5 years and was 76.47% in patients with diabetes of more than 20 to 25 years. Conclusion : There is an increasing prevalence of DR with increase in duration of DM. All patients having diabetes of more than 25 years were found to have retinopathy.