|
Research carried out at the Peninsula College of Medicine andDentistry (PCMD), University of Exeter, has concluded that it wouldbe a safe and cost-effective strategy to screen people with type 2 diabetes who have not yet developed diabetic retinopathy , for the disease once every two years instead of annually. The research is supported by funding from the National Institutefor Health Research Peninsula Collaboration for Leadership inApplied Health Research and Care (NIHR PenCLAHRC). It is publishedon-line in Diabetes Care. Diabetic retinopathy is a common complication of diabetes. Itoccurs when high blood sugar levels damage the cells in the retinaand, if not treated, can lead to blindness. In all but some casesdiabetic retinopathy has a typically slow rate of progression andcan take years to develop. The research team developed a model that simulated the progressionof retinopathy in type 2 diabetes and related screening, in orderto predict the rates of retinopathy-related sight loss. The modelused data from the Royal Devon & Exeter NHS Foundation Trust in theSouth West of the UK and the research team generated comparative15-year forecasts to assess the differences between currentscreening policies and those proposed by the findings of the study. The study concluded that it is safe to screen type 2 diabetespatients who have not been diagnosed with retinopathy every twoyears rather than annually, because the research team found thatthe proportion of patients who develop retinopathy-related sightloss was no different between the two screening intervals. Proposed savings for the Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital, for which3,537 of the patients it screens for retinopathy fell into theremit of this study, would be a reduction in costs from 1.83m ayear to 1.36m. The study predicts savings of around 25 per centbased on standard assumptions of screening costs. According to Diabetes UK, some 2.8m people in the UK have diabetesand 10 per cent of them are diagnosed with retinopathy. The UK's National Institute for Clinical Excellence introducedguidelines for annual screening, but admits that this frequency isarbitrary and has welcomed research to investigate appropriateintervals between screening appointments. The study was led by Dr. Daniel Chalk, Associate Research Fellow inApplied Operational Research, Peninsula Collaboration for Health,Operational Research and Development (PenCHORD), PCMD. He said:"This is not the first study to investigate screening for diabeticretinopathy, but it is the first to focus on the group of type 2diabetics who have not yet been diagnosed for the condition.Diabetic retinopathy typically develops at a very slow pace, and asa consequence we wanted to identify whether or not there was anymerit in reducing the frequency of screening from annually to everytwo years." He added: "We found that there was no perceivable difference in theeffectiveness of screening annually or every two years for thisparticular patient cohort, which would suggest that it would besafe and cost-effective to increase the screening interval to twoyears. In order to support this, an effective recall system andcampaign to impress upon patients the continuing importance of suchscreening would be beneficial - a lengthening of the screeninginterval in no way undermines the validity of the screening processitself." Additional References Citations. I am an expert from portable-data-terminals.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Symbol Pocket PC Scanner , China Handheld RFID Readers, GSM Wireless Terminal,and more.
Related Articles -
Symbol Pocket PC Scanner, China Handheld RFID Readers,
|
