Diabetic eye disease study highlights dangers of delays

New research found that extending annual screening to two years for people at low-risk of diabetic eye disease could lead to critical treatment delays and sight loss.

It also identified that people of Black and South Asian ethnicity were disproportionately affected when compared to people of White ethnicity.

A study was led by St George’s, University of London and Moorfields Eye Hospital with academics at Kingston University and was published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

Professor Christopher Owen, epidemiologist at St George’s, said: ‘The incentive of biennial screening is to release capacity in the NHS and lessen the inconvenience for people with diabetes at low risk of sight loss of attending eye screening appointments every year, but there is a need to address the potential to amplify ethnic and age inequalities in healthcare.’