A global campaign for Diabetic Eye Disease Awareness Month in November was led by advice and resources from various organisations, including the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), Prevent Blindness America (PBA) and the US National Eye Institute. As the prevalence of diabetes increased worldwide, the importance of screening for diabetes and diabetes-related eye diseases has risen on the agenda for health professionals. By 2040, about 224 million (35%) people worldwide will have some form of diabetic retinopathy (DR), in addition, 70 million (11%) people will have vision-threatening diabetic retinopathy, according to the IAPB.
World Diabetes Day (November 14) also coincided with the awareness month and, among many industry activities highlighted by the IAPB, the Diabetic Retinopathy Network (DR-NET) held a workshop exploring the development of DR services in low and middle-income countries. Presentations from Kenya, Malawi and Nigeria noted the vital role of multidisciplinary collaboration and involvement of all health services to enable regular eye screening, education and counselling, and timely treatment when needed. Kenya and Malawi have made progress by implementing national guidelines for DR services, promoting and standardising DR screening and treatment services and by unifying the tertiary hospitals to provide standardised DR services across the country.
Meanwhile, the charity Diabetes UK highlighted that over 1,700 people have their sight impacted by diabetes in the UK every year. The charity aimed to encourage risk of diabetes monitoring by partnering with Tesco on the Know Your Risk tool and providing healthy recipes online, following research that 57% of people had deprioritised their health since the start of the cost-of-living crisis, with about a quarter saying they would put off medical checks.
The charity said UK citizens over 12 years old and living with diabetes were entitled to an NHS diabetes eye screening at least once every two years. The Association of British Dispensing Opticians spread informative messages by publishing a selection of social media images with facts about diabetes and tips for preventing risks of eye disease.
Regular checks
US glaucoma specialist Dr Daniel Laroche has been raising awareness for the cause throughout November and the importance of regular eye check-ups, as many people with diabetes may not know about the damaging effects the disease can have on vision. He said: ‘Regular dilated eye examinations are essential to detect diabetic retinopathy early and provide vision-saving treatments when ready.
‘Over time, these diseases can lead to blindness, so it’s best to address them as soon as possible. We have new treatments with earlier surgical options that can help preserve or restore vision with faster recovery times.’
In the PBA’s November episode of its Focus on Eye Health Expert Series, Health Disparities and Diabetes-related Eye Disease, PBA spoke to Kristen Nwanyanwu, associate Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Science at the Yale School of Medicine. Prof Nwanyanwu agreed: ‘The AAO recommended that anyone with a diagnosis of diabetes should have an annual eye exam. My current stance on this is that as we evolve with patient-centred screening guidelines, we’ll get more elegant about who needs what.’
She added that, while the best way is to get a comprehensive examination, which can identify many issues, telemedicine screenings have also been able to detect diabetes-related eye disease for many years and are very effective.
A US 2022 study into Early Screening for Diabetic Retinopathy in Newly Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes, published in Frontiers in Public Health, echoed that periodic screening (annual or biannual screening in the first five years) was more effective than non-periodic screening in detecting instances of diabetic retinopathy in the middle-to-advanced aged group, but not among younger patients.
The DR-NET eye care professionals (ECPs) have called on ECPs worldwide to work alongside the international diabetes community to complete three key actions:
- Take the World Diabetes Day survey for health professionals and patients at worlddiabetesday.org/about.
- Lobby health and policymakers to improve diabetes education to help achieve the World Health Organization diabetes coverage targets by 2030.
- Join the International Diabetes Federation’s World Diabetes Congress on December 5-8, 2022, with free online access at idf2022.org/registration.
