PMID- 36865959
OWN - NLM
STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE
LR  - 20230304
IS  - 2168-8184 (Print)
IS  - 2168-8184 (Electronic)
IS  - 2168-8184 (Linking)
VI  - 15
IP  - 1
DP  - 2023 Jan
TI  - Importance of Early Spotting of Diabetic Retinopathy in Type 2 Diabetes Patients 
      by Family Medicine Physicians and Ophthalmologists: A Study in Jordan.
PG  - e34342
LID - 10.7759/cureus.34342 [doi]
LID - e34342
AB  - Diabetes mellitus is a long-standing progressive disorder. Diabetic retinopathy 
      is the primary cause of blindness among adults suffering from diabetes. Diabetic 
      retinopathy is found to be dependent on the length of the period affected by 
      diabetes, glucose control, blood pressure, and lipid profile while age, sex, and 
      type of medical therapy were not found to be risk factors.  Aim: This study 
      attempts to determine the importance of early spotting of diabetic retinopathy in 
      Jordanian type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) subjects by family medicine and 
      ophthalmologist physicians, which will help us achieve better health outcomes.  
      Methods: Our retrospective investigation recruited 950 working-age subjects, of 
      both sexes and with T2DM at three hospitals in Jordan, from September 2019 to 
      June 2022. Early spotting of diabetic retinopathy was done by family medicine 
      physicians and confirmation was done by ophthalmologists using direct 
      ophthalmoscopy. Evaluation of the fundus by pupillary dilation was performed to 
      assess the degree of diabetic retinopathy, macular edema, and the number of 
      patients with diabetic retinopathy. The level of severity for diabetic 
      retinopathy at confirmation was done using the classification for diabetic 
      retinopathy produced by the American Association of Ophthalmology (AAO). 
      Continuous parameters and independent t-tests were used to assess the average 
      discrepancy in the degree of retinopathy among subjects. Categorical parameters 
      were mentioned in numbers and percentages and chi-square tests were done to 
      determine discrepancies in proportion among patients.   Results: Early spotting 
      of diabetic retinopathy was recorded by family medicine physicians in 150 
      (15.8%) of 950 patients with T2DM of whom 56.7% (85/150) were women with an 
      average age of 44 years. Of these 150 subjects with T2DM, who were presumed to 
      have diabetic retinopathy, ophthalmologists diagnosed diabetic retinopathy in 35 
      patients (35/150; 23.3%). Of these, 33 (94.3%) had non-proliferative diabetic 
      retinopathy and two (5.7%) had proliferative diabetic retinopathy. Of the 33 
      patients with non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy, 10 had mild 
      non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy, 17 had moderate non-proliferative 
      diabetic retinopathy, and six had severe non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy. 
      Subjects aged more than 28 years had a 2.5 times increased risk of experiencing 
      diabetic retinopathy. Awareness and lack of awareness values differed 
      significantly (316 (33.3%), 634 (66.7%); P<0.05, respectively).  
      Conclusions: Early spotting of diabetic retinopathy by family medicine physicians 
      shortens the delay of diagnosis confirmation by ophthalmologists.
CI  - Copyright (c) 2023, Marie et al.
FAU - Marie, Latifa
AU  - Marie L
AD  - Department of Medicine, Al-Balqa Applied University, Al-Salt, JOR.
FAU - Al-Dabbas, Mohammad
AU  - Al-Dabbas M
AD  - Department of Ophthalmology, Jordanian Royal Medical Services, Amman, JOR.
FAU - Khatatbeh, Ahmed
AU  - Khatatbeh A
AD  - Department of Ophthalmology, King Hussein Medical Center, Amman, JOR.
FAU - Al-Mahmood, Ali
AU  - Al-Mahmood A
AD  - Department of Ophthalmology, Eye Specialty Hospital, Amman, JOR.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20230129
PL  - United States
TA  - Cureus
JT  - Cureus
JID - 101596737
PMC - PMC9974016
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - awareness
OT  - diabetic retinopathy
OT  - family physician (fp)
OT  - ophthalmologist
OT  - type-ii diabetes mellitus
COIS- The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
EDAT- 2023/03/04 06:00
MHDA- 2023/03/04 06:01
PMCR- 2023/01/29
CRDT- 2023/03/03 02:38
PHST- 2023/01/29 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2023/03/03 02:38 [entrez]
PHST- 2023/03/04 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2023/03/04 06:01 [medline]
PHST- 2023/01/29 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - 10.7759/cureus.34342 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - Cureus. 2023 Jan 29;15(1):e34342. doi: 10.7759/cureus.34342. eCollection 2023 
      Jan.