Purpose: To evaluate the prevalence and stage of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in a population-based cohort of young Finnish adults who have had type 1 diabetes (T1D) since childhood.
Material and methods: The cohort includes all 5- to 16-year-old patients with T1D who lived in the Northern Ostrobothnia Hospital District of Finland, in 1989 (n = 216). DR was evaluated from fundus photographs taken in 1989-1990 and again in 2007. The patients were 7 ± 4 years age (range 0-15 years) at the time of diagnosis of T1D, and the average duration of diabetes at the re-evaluation was 23 ± 4 years (range 17-32 years).
Results: The prevalence of DR was analysed in 172 patients (80% of the original cohort) at 22-35 years. Proliferative DR (PDR) was observed in 35% (60/172) and non-proliferative DR in 59% (101/172), with no signs of DR being present in the remaining 6% (11/172) of the subjects. The prevalence of DR did not differ by gender (p = 0.356).
Conclusions: After the 18-year follow-up, a high prevalence of DR and PDR (94% and 35%, respectively) was found in patients who have had T1D since childhood, with no difference between the genders.
Keywords: fundus photography; population-based; retinopathy; risk factor; type 1 diabetes; young adult.
© 2014 Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.