title: Prevalence, Awareness, and Risk Factors of Diabetic Retinopathy among Adults with Known Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in an Urban Community in China.
abstract: To understand the prevalence, awareness, and risk factors for diabetic retinopathy (DR) among Chinese with known type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in eastern China communities.
  
  
  
  A community-based survey including 913 patients with known T2DM was conducted in Suzhou, China. Diabetes was defined as hemoglobin A1c (hbA1c) ≥6.5%, use of diabetic medication or a physician diagnosis of diabetes. Retinal photographs were graded for the presence of DR using the Airlie House classification system. Binary logistic regression models were established to examine the associations of risk factors with DR and vision-threatening diabetic retinopathy (VTDR).
  
  
  
  The overall prevalence of any DR was 18.0% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 15.5-20.6%) in this population. VTDR affected 4.4% (95% CI: 3.1-5.8%) of the study participants. In multivariate analysis, the presence of DR among T2DM patients was associated with decreased age (odds ratio [OR] = 0.97; p = 0.01; per year increase), longer durations of diabetes (OR = 1.02; per year increase; p = 0.03), higher blood levels of hbA1c (OR = 1.15; per unit increase; p = 0.03). Of the 158 participants with DR, only 12 (8%) had been aware of their condition or had been diagnosed previously as having DR.
  
  
  
  The prevalence of DR among diabetes patients in eastern China was lower than those in northern China. The awareness of DR was poor, which emphasizes the pressing need for increasing the public awareness of this vision-threatening eye disorder and routine eye screening should be performed among T2DM patients in the communities.
authors.affiliation: a Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Preventive and Translational Medicine for Geriatric Diseases, School of Public Health , Medical College of Soochow University , Suzhou , China.
authors.forename: Chen-Wei
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: a Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Preventive and Translational Medicine for Geriatric Diseases, School of Public Health , Medical College of Soochow University , Suzhou , China.
authors.forename: Shan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: a Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Preventive and Translational Medicine for Geriatric Diseases, School of Public Health , Medical College of Soochow University , Suzhou , China.
authors.forename: Deng-Juan
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.affiliation: b Lixiang Eye Hospital of Soochow University , Suzhou , China.|c Department of Ophthalmology , the First Hospital of Jilin University , Changchun , China.
authors.forename: Cailian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: b Lixiang Eye Hospital of Soochow University , Suzhou , China.|c Department of Ophthalmology , the First Hospital of Jilin University , Changchun , China.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Song
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001364:Awareness; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D003930:Diabetic Retinopathy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin / Q000032:analysis; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D014505:Urban Population
chemical_list: D006442:Glycated Hemoglobin
keywords: Chinese; community; diabetic retinopathy; epidemiology; public health