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Screening for Diabetic Retinopathy in Denmark

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Digital Eye Care and Teleophthalmology

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Abstract

Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is the most common complication in diabetes and a leading cause of blindness in the working-aged population. Consistent, well-timed screening is needed to identify patients with sight-threatening proliferative DR or diabetic macular edema in order to initiate timely treatment prior to irreversible visual loss. Since 2010, national DR-screening has been implemented in Denmark and is offered for free for all patients with diabetes. Approximately 100,000 patients are annually screened by practicing ophthalmologists or hospital-based screening facilities. Screening is performed according to national guidelines, which includes specific recommendations regarding classification of DR, examination techniques, individualized screening intervals, and automated screening. Most importantly, life-long screening should be performed in all patients with diabetes as given by individualized, risk-based intervals including at least 2-field fundus photography and optical coherence tomography (for patients with suspected clinically significant macular edema). Results are mandatorily reported in the Danish Registry of Diabetic Retinopathy, which includes data of 593,769 screening episodes of 207,220 patients. At some hospital-based screening clinics, telemedicine has been implemented as part of a same-day screening initiative, which includes combined evaluation of systemic parameters and all microvascular complications.

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Abbreviations

BRB:

Blood-retinal barrier

CSME:

Clinically significant macular edema

DECODE-EYE:

Danish Excellent Centre in Ophthalmic Epidemiology

DiaBase:

Danish Registry of Diabetic Retinopathy

DME:

Diabetic macular edema

DR:

Diabetic Retinopathy

ETDRS:

Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study

ICDRDSS:

International Clinical Diabetic Retinopathy Disease Severity Scale

IRMA:

Intraretinal microvascular abnormalities

NPDR:

Nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy

OASIS:

Ocular And Systemic complications In diabetic retinopathy Study

OCT:

Optical coherence tomography

PDR:

Proliferative diabetic retinopathy

SDCO:

Steno Diabetes Center Odense

VEGF:

Vascular endothelial growth factor

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark

    Jakob Grauslund

  2. Steno Diabetes Center Odense, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark

    Jakob Grauslund

  3. Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

    Jakob Grauslund

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  1. Jakob Grauslund
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Correspondence to Jakob Grauslund .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine, University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle, WA, Australia

    Kanagasingam Yogesan

  2. Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA, USA

    Leonard Goldschmidt

  3. Department of Optometry and Vision Science, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Jorge Cuadros

  4. Miller School of Medicine, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute University of Miami, Miami, FL, USA

    Giselle Ricur

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Grauslund, J. (2023). Screening for Diabetic Retinopathy in Denmark. In: Yogesan, K., Goldschmidt, L., Cuadros, J., Ricur, G. (eds) Digital Eye Care and Teleophthalmology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-24052-2_24

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-24052-2_24

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