Retinopathy in Diabetes

Diabetic retinopathy is the most frequent cause of new cases of blindness among adults aged 20 –74 years. During the first two decades of disease, nearly all patients with type 1 diabetes and 60% of patients with type 2 diabetes have retinopathy. In the Wisconsin Epidemiologic Study of Diabetic Retinopathy (WESDR), 3.6% of younger-onset patients (type 1 diabetes) and 1.6% of olderonset patients (type 2 diabetes) were legally blind. In the younger-onset group, 86% of blindness was attributable to diabetic retinopathy. In the older-onset group, in which other eye diseases were common, one-third of the cases of legal blindness were due to diabetic retinopathy. NATURAL HISTORY OF DIABETIC RETINOPATHY Diabetic…