Diabetic Retinopathy Screening and Monitoring of Early Stage Disease in Australian General Practice: Tackling Preventable Blindness within a Chronic Care Model.

Introduction: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the leading cause of preventable blindness in Australia. Up to 50% of people with proliferative DR who do not receive timely treatment will become legally blind within five years. Innovative and accessible screening, involving a variety of primary care providers, will become increasingly important if patients with diabetes are to receive optimal eye care.

Diabetic retinopathy screening and monitoring of early stage disease in general practice: design and methods.

Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of preventable blindness in Australians younger than 60 years, mainly from the development of diabetic macular oedema and the sequelae of advanced proliferative diabetic retinopathy. However, early detection and subsequent treatment of diabetic retinopathy, as recommended in Australian national guidelines, can prevent nearly all cases of severe vision loss and blindness, but few people achieve this goal. This paper describes the design and methods of an open controlled trial that aims to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and relative costs and benefits of identification and management of early stages of diabetic retinopathy in primary care, with tele-ophthalmic support and education.

Nondiabetic retinal pathology - prevalence in diabetic retinopathy screening.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of photographic signs of nondiabetic retinal pathology in Australian general practice patients with diabetes.

Method: Three hundred and seven patients with diabetes underwent retinal photography at two general practices, one of which was an indigenous health centre. The images were assessed for signs of pathology by an ophthalmologist.

Diabetic retinopathy screening in general practice: a pilot study.

Background: Early detection and treatment of diabetic retinopathy (DR) can prevent nearly all associated severe vision loss. We investigated the feasibility of DR screening using nonmydriatic cameras in two Australian primary care clinics.

Methods: Two general practitioners from Queensland photographed the retinas of patients with type 2 diabetes seen in their clinics during the 9 month study period.