title: Importance of telemedicine in diabetes care: Relationships between family physicians and ophthalmologists.
abstract: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the worldwide leading cause of legal blindness. In 2010, 1.9% of diabetes mellitus (DM) patients were legally blind and 10.2% had visual impairment. The control of DM parameters (glycemia, arterial tension and lipids) is the gold standard for preventing DR complications, although, unfortunately, DR still appeared in a 25% to 35% of patients. The stages of severe vision threading DR, include proliferative DR (6.96%) and diabetic macular edema (6.81%). This review aims to update our knowledge on DR screening using telemedicine, the different techniques, the problems, and the inclusion of different professionals such as family physicians in care programs.
authors.affiliation: Pedro Romero-Aroca, Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Sant Joan, University Rovira i Virgili, Institut de Investigació Sanitaria Pere Virgili, 43202 Reus, Spain.
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Romero-Aroca
authors.affiliation: Pedro Romero-Aroca, Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Sant Joan, University Rovira i Virgili, Institut de Investigació Sanitaria Pere Virgili, 43202 Reus, Spain.
authors.forename: Ramon
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sagarra-Alamo
authors.affiliation: Pedro Romero-Aroca, Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Sant Joan, University Rovira i Virgili, Institut de Investigació Sanitaria Pere Virgili, 43202 Reus, Spain.
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pareja-Rios
authors.affiliation: Pedro Romero-Aroca, Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Sant Joan, University Rovira i Virgili, Institut de Investigació Sanitaria Pere Virgili, 43202 Reus, Spain.
authors.forename: Maribel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: López
keywords: Clinical decisions support system; Diabetic retinopathy; Diabetic retinopathy screening; Family physicians; Telemedicine