The relationship between diabetic control and retinopathy in a group of diabetic teenagers

Twenty insulin-dependent diabetic teenagers from the Oxford pediatric diabetic clinic were recruited to study the relationship between diabetic control and retinal microvascular disease. Two patients (10%) had evidence of minimal background diabetic retinopathy on careful ophthalmoscopy. Retinal color photography and fluorescein angiography each revealed retinopathy in 5 patients (25%) and together revealed retinopathy in 7 patients (35%). Color photography demonstrated retinopathy which had not been discovered on ophthalmoscopy. The presence of retinopathy was related to the duration of diabetes (p less than 0.02) and the glycosylated hemoglobin level (p less than 0.01). It is concluded that multiple field color photography is a useful method of assessing patients with minimal or no ophthalmoscopic retinopathy.