Adolescents with Diabetes Often Escape Make Vision Tests
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Dr. Sophia Wang of the University of Michigan Medical School said visual impairment experienced by patients with diabetes can be very severe and lead to blindness. Therefore, screening of visual impairment in diabetic patients is important.
"More and more teenagers and young adults diagnosed with diabetes now. In 2050, the prevalence of type 1 diabetes sufferers will increase three-fold while type 2 diabetes has quadrupled," said Dr. Wang, quoted by Reuters.
The study was conducted to more than 5,400 juvenile type 1 diabetes patients and 7,200 adolescent patients with type 2 diabetes research results refer to only 65 percent of adolescents with type 1 diabetes patients were screened for visual impairment.
This result is better than adolescent patients with type 2 diabetes, in which only 42 percent were screened for visual impairment. In a study published in JAMA this Ophtalmology, known from the total participants, only 31 percent were screened for visual impairment.
The American Academy of Ophthalmology recommends vision screening performed disorder 5 years after diagnosis of diabetes. The reason, diabetic retinopathy, visual impairment attack diabetic patients, may not have specific symptoms in its early stages.
Diabetic retinopathy occurs as a result of damage to the retina of the eye caused by a vascular disorder eyes because blood sugar levels are too high. Diabetic retinopathy is a retinal disorder that can occur in almost all patients who have long suffered from diabetes mellitus.
"Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness in the productive age, 20 to 74 years. Because of that eye screening should be performed by patients with diabetes," he said.
