Science & Healthcare

Introduction: diabetic retinopathy is a specific diabetes-induced vascular complication associated with the stable retinal malfunctioning. This is the commonest cause of blindness in the labour-active part of population in developed nations being responsible for 80-90% of all diabetes-related ocular disability.

Aim: to screen the population of patients with diabetes followed by the State Diabetes Register in order to elucidate the prevalence and the structure of diabetic retinopathy.

Materials and methods: this was a cross-sectional study. Overall, we examined 310 patients followed-up due to diabetes mellitus by the data of Health Department of Pavlodar region. The ocular examination included visual acuity check, posterior biomicroscopy and ophthalmoscopy, fundus photographs. The data analysis was performed through SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences), version 20.0 for Windows.

Results: beginning 2000, the rate of diabetes mellitus in Pavlodar region showed more than two-fold increase (from 955 in 2000 to 1771 in 2015 per 100 of population). Out of 310 people examined, 27 (8.7%) of patients had Type I Dibetes, while the remaining 283 (91.3%) had Type II. Diabetic retinopathy was diagnosed in 177 patients of 310 examined. Non-proliferative retinopathy was established in 48,1% of cases, pre-prolifarative – in 33,3% of cases, and proliferative – in 18,6% of cases.

Выводы: the diabetes rate in the population of Pavlodar region raised within the period of 2000-2015. The rate of diabetic retinopathy development including proliferative stage was higher than in other studies. This highlights the need to reconsider the mechanisms of monitoring of patients with diabetes as well as establishing collaboration network between general practitioners, endocrinologists and ophthalmologists providing care to diabetic patients.