Prevalence of diabetic retinopathy in India is 16.9%: Survey

New Delhi: The Union Health Ministry’s first National Diabetes and Diabetic Retinopathy Survey (2015-19) has revealed that the prevalence of Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is 16.9 per cent while the prevalence of sight-threatening DR is 3.6 per cent.
It may be noted that diabetes and diabetic retinopathy are emerging as a significant non-communicable disease leading to ocular morbidity.
The survey has also revealed the prevalence of mild retinopathy at about 11.8 per cent. The prevalence of diabetes in the surveyed population has been recorded 11.8 per cent while the prevalence of Known Diabetes (KD) — 8.0 per cent.
For this, the health ministry collaborated with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)- RP Eye Centre to conduct this massive survey in which 21 districts were included. The total sample size for survey was 63,000 people aged 50 years and above.
“Our aim was to assess the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy and sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy (STDR) among people with diabetes and to evaluate the coverage of diabetic retinopathy examinations among people with known diabetes,” (Prof) Dr Atul Kumar, Chief of RP Eye Centre at AIIMS told ANI.
The present survey was therefore planned to estimate the burden of diabetic retinopathy in the population aged >=50 years for assisting the planning and prioritization of diabetic eye services, said Dr Kumar.