[Diabetic retinopathy in children and adolescents under 18 years of age]

We found ophthalmoscopically microaneurysms in 22 patients from 189 diabetics (11.6%). The youngest patients with microaneurysms were two 11-years-old girls with 3 and 5 years lasting disease. The chance of retinopathy was growing with the duration of the diabetes. By fluorescein angiography we discovered retinopathy in 52 patients out of 126 diabetics (41.3%). The retinopathy was more often found among girls. Just in one case we found the early stage of preproliferative retinopathy. The retinopathy was more often found in diabetics with higher levels of glyconated hemoglobin. The extent of foveolar avascular zone is decreasing with the longer course of the diabetes. We recorded lower occurrence of diabetic retinopathy in patients treated at the Ist Department of Pediatrics in Bratislava. In the group evaluated in the years 1986-89 the occurrence of the diabetic retinopathy diagnosed ophthalmoscopically was lower than in the group of 1981-84.