Diabetic retinopathy screening and treatment in Myanmar: a pilot study

The goals of this pilot study were (a) to demonstrate the feasibility of identifying patients with vision-threatening diabetic retinopathy (DR) in a provincial area of Myanmar and treating them with portable lasers and (b) to gather data specific to Myanmar to help design larger cross-sectional studies of DR prevalence in Myanmar.

97 consecutive patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) were identified by local ophthalmologists over a period of 1 month in Pyinmana, Myanmar and were referred to the pilot screening programme. Patients' demographics were recorded and their eyes were examined. Those with vision-threatening DR were treated with panretinal photocoagulation (PRP).

Of the 97 patients with DM, 33 (34%) had evidence of DR, 23 (23.5%) had evidence of vision-threatening DR including 13 (13.5%) with proliferative DR and 33 eyes in 23 patients (23.5%) had PRP with portable green wavelength laser. Hypertension was a significant cofactor in the development of vision-threatening DR (p<0.01). The average time since diagnosis of DM was 6.0 years in patients with vision-threatening DR.

This study demonstrates the feasibility of identifying and treating patients with vision-threatening DR in a provincial area of Myanmar and provides initial data to plan a larger study to assess true prevalence, a prerequisite for establishing broader screening/treatment programs.