Journal of Medical Screening > Volume 15, Number 3 > Pp. 118-121

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Original Articles

Diabetic retinopathy and socioeconomic deprivation in Gloucestershire

P H Scanlon, Consultant Ophthalmologist  , Gloucestershire Eye Unit, Cheltenham General Hospital, Cheltenham, GL53 7AN, UK

S C Carter, Research Optometrist , Gloucestershire Eye Unit, Cheltenham General Hospital, Cheltenham, GL53 7AN, UK

C Foy, Statistician , Gloucestershire R & D Support Unit, Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, Gloucester, UK

R F A Husband, Public Health Intelligence Analyst , Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust, Cheltenham, UK

J Abbas, Public Health Information Specialist , Gloucestershire, Currently Deputy Director, Yorkshire and Humber Public Health Observatory, York, UK

M O Bachmann, Professor of Health Services Research , School of Medicine, Health Policy and Practice, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

Correspondence to: Dr P H Scanlon, Gloucestershire Eye Unit, Cheltenham General Hospital, Sandford Rd, Cheltenham GL53 7AN, UK; peter.scanlon{at}glos.nhs.uk

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Objectives To investigate socioeconomic variations in diabetes prevalence, uptake of screening for diabetic retinopathy, and prevalence of diabetic retinopathy.

Methods The County of Gloucestershire formed the setting of the study. A cross-sectional study of people with diabetes was done on a countywide retinopathy-screening database. Diabetes prevalence with odds ratios, uptake of screening, prevalence of any retinopathy and prevalence of sight-threatening retinopathy at screening were compared for different area deprivation quintiles. Logistic regression was used to adjust for confounding.

Results With each increasing quintile of deprivation, diabetes prevalence increased (odds ratio 0.84), the probability of having been screened for diabetic retinopathy decreased (odds ratio 1.11), and the prevalence of sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy among screened patients increased (odds ratio of 0.98), while the prevalence of non-sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy remained unchanged with each increasing quintile of deprivation.

Conclusion Sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy was associated with socioeconomic deprivation, but non-sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy was not. Uptake of screening was inversely related to socioeconomic deprivation.

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