Change in diabetic panretinal photocoagulation incidence.
OBJECTIVE
Diabetic blindness occurs most often among working-age people. Panretinal photocoagulation (PRP) can prevent this outcome. Administrative data examined changes in PRP incidence rates.


METHODS
Anonymous data from the "claims submitted" files of an insurer with nationwide representation was used. This health insurance was a job benefit, and the sample included 6,085,750 U.S. employees and their dependents. Those who received PRP for diabetic retinopathy were compared to all others with diabetes mellitus. Although some enrollees had more than one PRP procedure, each procedure was considered a unique event. The rate change was evaluated by chi-square tests with post hoc tests for pair-wise comparisons.


RESULTS
A total of 14,856 PRP procedures were performed. An incidence rate reduction from 0.95% to 0.67% (chi-square = 243.6818, P < .0001) was found within the study interval.


CONCLUSIONS
The incidence of PRP was reduced in this sample of U.S. workers and their dependents.
Department of Ophthalmology at the School of Medicine, and the Center for Outcomes Research, Saint Louis University, St.Louis, Missouri, USA. Femanss@slu.edu
Stephen S
SS
Feman
Jiajing
J
Chen
Thomas E
TE
Burroughs
D000328:Adult; D001766:Blindness / Q000517:prevention & control; D016208:Databases, Factual; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000453:epidemiology; D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017075:Laser Coagulation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology