Relationship between diabetic retinopathy severity and the timespan between the endocrinopathy diagnosis and the first ophthalmic examination.

PURPOSE To investigate whether the time interval between type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) diagnosis and the first fundoscopic examination is related with the presence and the severity of diabetic retinopathy (DR) observed. METHODS A survey of 105 type 2 DM patients referred to ophthalmologic evaluation in the "Hospital das Clinicas" (HC), University of São Paulo Medical School (USPMS). RESULTS Regarding classification of DR in the 105 patients, 15 (14.28%) did not show signs of DR, and 90 (85.72%) exhibited them on fundoscopy. Sixty patients underwent laser therapy, and 46.66% reported poor control of DM. Only 15.23% of DM patients were adequately screened for DR on the first year of their DM diagnosis. Among the 36 patients (34.30%) examined within five years of DM diagnosis, 58.33% did not present or demonstrate signs of mild DR and 22.20% of proliferative DR; 30 patients underwent an ophthalmologic examination after more than eleven years of DM diagnosis, 21.62% did not exhibit signs of DR and 59.46% were classified as proliferative DR. CONCLUSION This study showed a statistically significant relationship between the time interval from the diagnosis of type 2 DM and the first fundoscopic examination with the severity of DR.