A meta-analysis of prevalence of diabetic retinopathy in Asia

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a common microvascular complication of diabetes. This review reports the prevalence of DR in Asia and guides healthcare provision in screening and treatment.

Medline was searched for articles describing the prevalence of DR in Asia. Statistical analysis was performed using Freeman-Tukey double arcsine transformation and the DerSimonian and Laird model. The prevalence of DR was estimated according to the following subgroups: Economic status (high, middle, and low income), country, and ethnicity. The risk of bias of the articles was also assessed.

A total of 66 studies were included, and out of 2,599,857 patients with diabetes, 201,646 were diagnosed with DR. The overall prevalence of DR, non-proliferative DR (NPDR), proliferative DR (PDR) and maculopathy were recorded at 21.7% (CI: 19.1-24.6%), 19.9% (CI: 17.3-22.8%), 2.3% (CI: 1.6-3.4%) and 4.8% (CI: 3.5-6.7%) respectively. Low-income countries had the lowest prevalence of DR, NPDR, PDR and maculopathy compared to the middle- and high-income countries. Middle-income countries had the highest prevalence of DR (23.9%; CI: 19.4-29.2%), NPDR (21.1%; CI: 17.0-25.9%), moderate NPDR (7.9%; CI: 5.7-11.0%), PDR (3.0%; CI: 1.8-4.9%) and maculopathy (4.7%; CI: 3.0-7.4%), while high-income countries had the highest prevalence of mild (10.3%; CI: 4.2-23.2%) and severe NPDR (3.0%; CI: 1.0-8.4%).

One in five people with diabetes have diabetic retinopathy. It is imperative that public healthcare take heeds to heighten the screening program to provide all patients with diabetes equitable access to DR screening and ophthalmology services.