When diabetic retinopathy is clinically of slight or moderate degree, its presence and site, rather than its extent, determine the prognosis for vision, a study at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, England, indicates.
Results of the study were reported to the fifth congress of the International Diabetes Federation at Toronto by F. I. Caird, DM, Oxford.
The study involved 120 patients with a total of 209 eyes exhibiting diabetic retinopathy. The patients were selected on the basis of three criteria: (1) each had undergone one or more observations following the one at which diabetic retinopathy was diagnosed; (2) in affected eyes, visual acuity at the first relevant observation was 6/60 or better; (3) there was no other condition which might affect visual acuity.
Observations were also made of a control group of 169 diabetics without retinopathy who were observed by the same ophthalmologists under the same conditions.
In the test group,