Low educational level increases the incidence of vision-threatening diabetic retinopathy

INTRODUCTION: Diabetic retinopathy is defined as morphological lesions in the retina secondary to diabetes. The lesions may progress to a vision-threatening stage, which is more frequent in men and people with weak personal networks and a low psychosocial status. However, there is limited knowledge about the influence of other socio-economic factors on the development of treatment-requiring diabetic retinopathy.METHODS: The number of patients from each postal district in the Aarhus County area who had been treated for diabetic retinopathy in the first eye between 1 July 1994 and 1 July 2019 was acquired. The standard information package "Key figures from postal districts" published 1 October 2019 by Statistics Denmark was used to study differences in treatment rates of diabetic retinopathy among postal districts and to explore to which extent such differences may be explained by population size, age, educational background and income.RESULTS: During the study period of 25 years, 2,142 patients with home address in the former Aarhus County were treated for diabetic retinopathy. The treatment rate showed marked geographical variations and was inversely related to educational level, but was not independently related to either population size, age or income.CONCLUSIONS: Initiatives aiming to reduce the incidence of treatment-requiring diabetic retinopathy in Danish healthcare should include preventive measures especially adapted to citizens with a low educational background. FUNDNG: none.TRIAL REGISTRATION: not relevant.