Diabetic retinopathy and socioeconomic deprivation in Gloucestershire

P. H. Scanlon, S. C. Carter, C. Foy, R. F. A. Husband, J. Abbas, M. O. Bachmann

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Abstract

Objectives: To investigate socioeconomic variations in diabetes prevalence, uptake of screening for diabetic retinopathy, and prevalence of diabetic retinopathy.
Methods: The County of Gloucestershire formed the setting of the study. A cross-sectional study of people with diabetes was done on a countywide retinopathy-screening database. Diabetes prevalence with odds ratios, uptake of screening, prevalence of any retinopathy and prevalence of sight-threatening retinopathy at screening were compared for different area deprivation quintiles. Logistic regression was used to adjust for confounding.

Results: With each increasing quintile of deprivation, diabetes prevalence increased (odds ratio 0.84), the probability of having been screened for diabetic retinopathy decreased (odds ratio 1.11), and the prevalence of sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy among screened patients increased (odds ratio of 0.98), while the prevalence of non-sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy remained unchanged with each increasing quintile of deprivation.

Conclusion: Sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy was associated with socioeconomic deprivation, but non-sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy was not. Uptake of screening was inversely related to socioeconomic deprivation.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)118-121
Number of pages4
JournalJournal of Medical Screening
Volume15
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sep 2008

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