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A prospective, longitudinal study examining the development of retinopathy in children with diabetes
Author(s) -
Falck A,
Käär ML,
Laatikainen L
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1996.tb14023.x
Subject(s) - medicine , retinopathy , diabetes mellitus , diabetic retinopathy , prospective cohort study , eye disease , longitudinal study , pediatrics , ophthalmology , surgery , endocrinology , pathology
A prospective longitudinal study of 182 children and adolescents with diabetes revealed that during a follow‐up of 2.5 ± 0.5 years the prevalence of retinopathy increased from 10.8% to 28.0%, corresponding to an annual increase of 7%. Retinopathy was diagnosed at a mean age of 15.3 years (95% CI, 14.8–15.8 years) after a mean duration of diabetes of 8.9 years (95% CI, 8.0 9.7 years). Prepubertal years of diabetes contributed to the risk of developing retinopathy. The initial signs of retinopathy were microaneurysm(s) in 56%, microaneurysm(s) and haemorrhage(s) in 30%, and haemorrhage(s) in 10%. A combination of microaneurysm, haemorrhage and cotton‐wool spot was observed in 2%, and microaneurysms, haemorrhage and an IRMA lesion were seen in 2%. Most of the initial lesions disappeared during the follow‐up period, but at the same time new lesions developed elsewhere in the retina in all but 2 cases. In 8 patients (15% of patients with retinopathy) aged 13.7 19.8 years and having had diabetes for 3.7–14.8 years, retinal changes progressed from mild to a more advanced background retinopathy. A higher glycated haemoglobin level during puberty was the only factor which differentiated these patients from control patients matched for sex, age, puberty and duration of diabetes.