Diabetic retinopathy. Control of systemic factors preserves vision
Colucciello, M.
Postgraduate Medicine 116(1): 57-64
2004
ISSN/ISBN: 0032-5481 PMID: 15274289 Document Number: 583272
Diabetic retinopathy, a retinal microangiopathy, is the leading cause of blindness for persons aged 20 to 65 years in the United States. Routine screening and early treatment are cost-effective and have been shown to help preserve sight. Primary care physicians play a key role in treatment of systemic factors that lead to poor outcomes and referral to an ophthalmologist or a retinal specialist for screening and local treatment. This article, the first of two on retinal vascular disease, provides a review of nonproliferative and proliferative diabetic retinopathy. The second article, which will appear in an upcoming issue of POSTGRADUATE MEDICINE, discusses retinal vascular disease in hypertension.