How an Aggressive Weedy Invader Displaces Native Trees

Background: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the leading causes of blindness. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence and determinants of retinopathy among diabetics in Al-Ain city, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Methods: The study was part of a general cross-sectional survey carried out to assess the prevalence of diabetes (DM) complications including retinopathy among known diabetic patients in Al-Ain District, UAE. Patients were randomly selected during 2003/2004. Patients completed an interviewer-administered questionnaire carried out by treating doctors and underwent a complete medical assessment. All patients were examined for evidence of diabetic retinopathy by ophthalmologist and their fundi were examined using slit lamp examination and fundus photography of each eye through dilated pupils. Results: A sample of 513 diabetic patients was selected with a mean age of 53 years (SD ± 13.01). Retinopathy was present in 19% (95% CI: 15.1–23.5%) of the study population. Most patients (74%) were not aware of their condition. The disease was more common among males (24.2 vs. 13.9%; p = 0.016), increased with increasing age (p = 0.004) and disease duration (p = 0.0001). Type I DM was a highly significantly contributing risk factor (38.3% for type 1, vs. 16.4% for type 2; p < 0.0001). Retinopathy was higher among patients with hypertension, microalbuminuria, peripheral vascular disease, coronary artery disease and neuropathy. Conclusion: The prevalence of DR in the UAE was (19%) and significantly affected elderly males. Regular screening to detect DR is highly recommended as with the early detection of proliferative retinopathy and timely laser photocoagulation which are known to prevent most of the diabetes related blindness. Background Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a complication of diabetes mellitus (DM) that affects the blood vessels of the retina and leads to blindness. The progression of retinopathy is gradual, advancing from mild abnormalities, characterized by increased vascular permeability, to moderate and severe non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy, characterized by the growth of new blood vessels on the retina and posterior surface of the vitreous [1]. DR is one of the most serious complications of diabetes. For example, the Wisconsin epidemiological study of diaPublished: 16 June 2007 BMC Ophthalmology 2007, 7:11 doi:10.1186/1471-2415-7-11 Received: 20 October 2006 Accepted: 16 June 2007 This article is available from: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2415/7/11 © 2007 Al-Maskari and El-Sadig; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.