Prevalence of diabetic retinopathy in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus.
OBJECTIVE
Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the leading cause of legal blindness in young adults. Scarce data from Brazilian subjects with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM) are available.


OBJECTIVE
The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of DR and its risk factors in type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM) outpatients from a general hospital.


METHODS
A cross-sectional study of 437 type 1 DM (50.3% males, 82.4% whites) was conducted. DR was graded as absent, mild and moderate non-proliferative DR (mild/moderate NPDR) or severe non-proliferative and proliferative DR (advanced DR). Presence of clinically significant macular edema (CSME) was also recorded.


RESULTS
Any DR was present in 44.4% of subjects. In multivariate analysis, DM duration, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and A1C test were associated with mild/moderate NPDR (P<0.005). Advanced DR, was associated with DM duration, SBP, smoking [odds ratio (OR) 2.75, 95%CI 1.15-6.60] and micro-or macroalbuminuria (OR 8.53, 95%CI 3.81-18.05). CSME was present in 21 (9.4%) patients and was associated with smoking (OR 3.19, 95%CI 1.24-8.2). Its frequency increased with the severity of DR (16.4% in advanced DR, 9.6% in mild/moderate NPDR, and 4.7% in the group without DR; P = 0.020).


CONCLUSIONS
Patients with type 1 DM attending an endocrine out-patient clinic at a general hospital had a high prevalence of DR associated with traditional risk-factors and smoking.
Esteves
Jorge F
JF
Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brasil.
Kramer
Caroline K
CK
Azevedo
Mirela Jobim de
MJ
Stolz
Andressa P
AP
Roggia
Murilo F
MF
Larangeira
Andréia
A
Miozzo
Suellen A
SA
Rosa
Carolina
C
Lambert
Jose Humberto
JH
Pecis
Miriam
M
Rodrigues
Ticiana C
TC
Canani
Luis Henrique Santos
LH
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000150:complications*; D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors