Improving Diabetic Retinopathy in an Indigent Population

Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of preventable blindness in working-age American adults. This study hypothesized that patients with diabetes types I and II at St.Luke's Free Medical Clinic in Spartanburg, South Carolina were not being systematically referred for annual diabetic retinopathy screening. We evaluated the number of patients referred for screening, those patients who actually went for the screening, and the rate at which retinopathy was found in those who went. Of the 111 charts reviewed, only 49.5% of the patients were referred to an eye care professional between January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2014. Of those referred, 21.1% were found to have vision-threatening pathology. The median number of days to have an eye exam was 28.5. A standardized method to screen for diabetic retinopathy in the clinic would alleviate the referral burden and ultimately allow for detection of ocular pathology earlier in the course of disease.