Eye & Diabetes in Morocco: Where are we from the global screening guidelines?

In Morocco, the prevalence of diabetes in the adult population is 12.4% (WHO). Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is the 2nd cause of blindness. Nearly 1 million people worldwide are blind due to diabetes. The aim of our work is to study the epidemiological profile of patients with diabetes in ophthalmology and to determine the observance of the follow-up guidelines. This is a descriptive study carried out at the Vision Clinic of Tetouan-Morocco, including all diabetic patients who presented to the ophthalmology consultation of the same doctor, between June 2022 and December 2022. The study involved 500 patients, including 217 men and 283 women, with an average age of 62 years. The average duration of diabetes was 11.5 years. 1 out of 3 diabetic patients was unaware that diabetes was a blinding disease and 3 out of 4 patients did not follow a specific diet. 1 out of 8 patients has an annual ophthalmological check-up. 55% of the patients have a screening every 2-5 years, when 7% haven't had their eyes checked in the last 10 years. Visual complaints accounted for 58% of the motivations for all consultations, while diabetes only accounted for 30%. Depending on the duration of the condition, diabetes represents 60% of the reasons for consultation among new diabetics (1 year) whereas it represents only 20% among diabetics over 10 years old. Eye examinations revealed a proliferative DR in 24% of the cases and a non proliferative DR in 22%. In 31%, there was no sign of DR and in 23%, the fundus was inaccessible due to cataract. The prevalence of proliferative DR increases with years of diabetes, reaching 40% in diabetics over 20 years old. The results of this work prove that diabetes is still underestimated by the Moroccan population. This is probably related to a lack of information of the target population. Thus, health professionals should strengthen their education in order to establish a better monitoring and screening policy aimed to reduce the occurrence of an avoidable blindness. KEY MESSAGES: • Less than one Diabetic out of 3 consults an ophthalmologist for their diabetes & Only one diabetic out of 8 consults annually in ophthalmology. • The older the diabetes, the less regular is the consultation in ophthalmology & One out of 4 diabetics will already have proliferative diabetic retinopathy at their ophthalmological consultation.