Prevalence and Risk Factors of Diabetic Retinopathy in Rural Korean Type 2 Diabetic Patients: From Community Based Cross-Sectional Study.

This study was performed to determine the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy and its association with various related parameters in rural Korean type 2 diabetic patients. A community based study was scheduled to perform on 1,317 subjects with known type 2 diabetes over 30 years living in Chungju city, South Korea. All of the study subjects were completed the survey consisting of anthropometric measurement, blood chemistry and interview and fundoscopic examination. Diabetic retinopathy was diagnosed by practicing ophthalmologists, we analyzed diabetic retinopathy prevalence and relationship between retinopathy and associated various parameters for detecting risk factors. The overall prevalence of diabetic retinopathy was 17.9%. Proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) was found in 1.1% of the study subjects. Prevalence of mild, moderate and severe non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) were 9.8%, 3.3% and 3.7%, respectively. In logistic regression analysis, variables independently associated with diabetic retinopathy were duration of diabetes mellitus and post-prandial blood glucose level. Adjusted relative risk for diabetic retinopathy was increased by duration of diabetes mellitus [< 5 years: 2.23 (95% CI; 0.493-10.159), 5-10 years: 5.192 (95% CI; 1.138-23.684), > 10 years: 10.034 (95% CI; 2.284-44.075)] compared with their duration of diabetes less than 1 year and post-prandial glucose level [> 180 mg/dL: 1.96 (95% CI; 1.09-3.54)] compared with less than 180mg/dL. The overall prevalence of diabetic retinopathy was 17.9% in rural Korean type 2 diabetic patients. The presence of diabetic retinopathy was significantly associated with duration of diabetes, Hemoglobin Ale and post-prandial blood glucose level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]