title: Diabetic retinopathy - need and demand for photocoagulation and its cost-effectiveness: evaluation based on services in the United Kingdom.
abstract: Photocoagulation services in the two Regions, north of the River Thames, treated 6,589 cases of diabetic retinopathy (including an annual incidence of 309 cases) or 20% of the estimated total need for photocoagulation. Sixty-one percent of diabetic retinopathy patients have disease in both eyes. It is cheaper to treat a patient with diabetic retinopathy than to look after a blind person for one year. Hence, adequate training in the identification and early treatment of diabetic retinopathy requiring photocoagulation is urgent.
mesh_terms: D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D008028:Light Coagulation / Q000191:economics*; D006113:United Kingdom