PREVALENCE OF DIABETIC RETINOPATHY AMONG CHILDREN WITH TYPE 1 DIABETES MELLITUS

Background: This study to find out the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy (DR) among diabetic children with type 1 DM treated with insulin. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted on 50 children with type 1 DM from 1 to 14  years of age. All patients were subjected to full fundus examination and were then classified according to its results into patients with DR and patients without DR. Results: A total of 6 (12.0%) patients were found to have DR. 5 patients had retinopathy in one eye and 1 patients had retinopathy in both eyes. Thus, the total number of eyes with retinopathy was 7 of 100 screened eyes (7.00% of all eyes). Most eyes with retinopathy had a mild degree of NPDR, as it was present in 6 eyes. The other 1eyes had moderate degree of retinopathy Conclusion: The prevalence of DR was 12.0% among all studied patients and 7.00% among all studied eyes. The grade of retinopathy was directly related to the duration of DM, fasting blood glucose, and glycosylated hemoglobin levels. Keywords: DM, DR, Hb1Ac