Vol. 7 Issue 1 Part A

Background: Diabetes mellitus leads to several microvascular and macrovascular complications; among them diabetic retinopathy is the most common sight-threatening microvascular complication. Objective: To assess relationship of severity of diabetic retinopathy with duration in type 1 diabetic patients attending in National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital (NIO&H), Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in the Department of Vitreo-retina, National Institute of Ophthalmology and Hospital (NIO&H) from December, 2019 to October, 2021. A total of 61 patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus were purposively included in the study. Patients with type 1 diabetes less than 3 years’ duration, having coexisting others retinal pathology, with poor diabetic control were excluded from the study. All patients underwent complete clinical evaluation including detailed ocular and systemic examination as well as relevant investigations. All the examination findings and relevant information were recorded in a pre-designed data collection sheet.

Results: The mean age of the patients were 29.1±6.6 years where 33 (54.1%) patients were male. Mean value of glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) % level was 6.9±0.4%. The mean duration of diabetes was 7.5±4.7 years where 29 (47.5%) patients had diabetes for less than 5 years duration, 17 (27.9%) patients had diabetes for 5-10 years duration. Among the 61 patients, 31 (50.8%) patients had no diabetic retinopathy while 11 (18.0%) patients had mild to moderate non proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR), 6 (9.8%) patients had severe to very severe non proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR), 6 (9.8%) patients had proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) and 7 (11.5%) patients had advanced diabetic eye disease (ADED). No significant statistical difference was observed between patients with or without diabetic retinopathy regarding laboratory parameters as p>0.05. The mean duration of diabetes of patients with no diabetic retinopathy was 3.9 ±0.9 years while patients with advanced diabetic eye disease (ADED) had a mean duration of diabetes of 15.3±3.1 years. There was significant statistical difference between duration of diabetes and stages of diabetic retinopathy as p<000.1. There was positive correlation between mean duration of type 1 diabetes and severity of diabetic retinopathy which was significant (rs=0.894, p=<0.001).

Conclusion: The present study found strong relationship between duration in patients with type 1 diabetes and severity of diabetic retinopathy. This emphasizes the need for regular screening of diabetic individuals to detect retinopathy in the early stages and increasing public awareness in addition to glycaemic control.