Prevalence and epidemiological characteristics of patients with diabetic retinopathy in Slovakia: 12-month results from the DIARET SK study

PURPOSE: To evaluate the prevalence and epidemiological characteristics of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in Slovakian patients with Type 1 and 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) in the DIARET SK study. PATIENTS AND METHODS: An epidemiological multi-center survey that included 4,078 adult patients (aged ≥18 years) from 51 diabetologists and 47 ophthalmologists. Data were collected from February to December 2015. RESULTS: The final data set consisted of 4,014 patients; 3,700 were enrolled (Type 2 DM = 3,405, Type 1 DM = 295) using a quasi-random approach; 16 (Type 2 DM = 15, Type 1 DM = 1) patients in the pre-specified group had DM duration of <5 years with a history of DR while 298 patients (Type 2 DM = 204, Type 1 DM = 94) had DM duration of ≥ 20 years. The mean (standard deviation [SD]) age of patients at diagnosis for Types 2 and 1 DM was 53.4 (9.5) and 27.6 (12.9) years, respectively. The mean (SD) glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) was 7.5 (1.4) and 8.5 (1.6) in Types 2 and 1 DM patients, respectively, whereas a slightly higher proportion of patients had >11.0 HbA1c in Type 1 DM (5.8%) than Type 2 (2.0%). The mean (SD) duration of Type 2 DM was shorter compared with Type 1 (7.5 [5.2] vs 10.3 [6.9] years). In Type 2 DM patients, there were 516 (15.5%) cases of DR, 19 (0.56%) of proliferative DR (PDR), and 106 (3.11%) of diabetic macular edema (DME). In Type 1 DM patients, there were 86 (29.15%) cases of DR, 10 (3.39%) PDR, and 12 (4.07%) DME. CONCLUSIONS: In Slovakian patients with DM, the duration of disease and higher HbA1c were the most prevalent factors that contributed to the development of DR and DME.