Prevalence and risk factors of retinopathy in children with diabetes mellitus

Background: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a severe complication of diabetic microangiopathy. The prevalence is low in children and increases with patie nt age and duration of diabetes. Patients and methods: Full ophthalmologic examination was completed by fluo rescein angiography in 36 diabetic patients diagnosed in childhood, with du ration of diabetes more than 5 years. Results: After 5 years of diabetes, 44% of the patients had DR. Background retinopathy was found in 31%, preproliferative retinopathy in 5% and prolif erative retinopathy in 8% of cases. DR was associated with diabetic maculop athy in 8 patients and cataract in 4 patients. DR was correlated with the a ge of patients at diagnosis of diabetes, time of ophthalmologic examination , sex, duration and balance of diabetes. Conclusion: The frequency of DR increases with the duration and the imbalan ce of diabetes. The importance of well balanced diabetes and regular ophtha lmologic examination were necessary to decrease the frequency of DR.