DIABETIC retinopathy (DR) is the leading cause of visual impairment among adults in Bahrain, according to a recent study.
The condition, a complication of diabetes, accounted for 41.53 per cent of visual impairment cases studied by a medical team, including scholars from the King Abdulla Medical City and Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC).
Glaucoma – caused by abnormally high eye pressure in the eye – accounted for blindness in 33.26pc cases.
King Abdulla Medical City Ophthalmology Department head Dr Nada Al Yousuf, one of the researchers, told the GDN that the findings point to the need for more campaigns and research to address the two ‘preventable’ disorders affecting the eye.
“The study has been reviewed and published in the Cureus Journal of Medical Science and the findings explicitly show that diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma are the major causes of visual impairment among adults,” Dr Al Yousuf told the GDN, adding that both conditions are preventable. He called for campaigns to increase public awareness of the disease.
Dr Al Yousuf
The consultant ophthalmologist and cornea and refractive surgeon also called for more studies and population-based screening programmes to find out ‘unrecognised and unregistered visual disabilities’.
Diabetic retinopathy is a complication of diabetes – a highly prevalent non-communicable disease in Bahrain – caused by high blood sugar levels damaging the back of the eye (retina). It can cause blindness if left undiagnosed and untreated.
However, it usually takes several years for diabetic retinopathy to reach a stage where it could threaten sight.
The study was done on 484 Bahraini patients, officially registered according to World Health Organisation criteria as visually disabled from January 2014 to December 2019. Aged between three and 100, 63pc of the study sample were men.
A total of 201 people were found to suffer from diabetic retinopathy (41.53pc of cases under study) while 161 had glaucoma (33.26pc). Other hereditary and congenital disorders affected 34 patients (7.02pc) while 21 (4.34pc) were found to have glaucoma combined with DR.
Seventeen cases (3.51pc) had other retinal diseases, 14 suffered from retinitis pigmentosa (2.89pc), nine from optic atrophy (1.86pc), eight were diagnosed with corneal disorders and age-related macular degeneration (1.65pc) and 11 had other ailments (0.83pc).
The study noted that the leading cause of visual impairment among children was congenital and hereditary.
The research recommended more measures to screen diabetic patients for DR to ensure early detection and prevention of sight-threatening complications. It also called on those with diabetes to regularly monitor their blood sugar levels, blood pressure and cholesterol.
Other scholars on the panel were Dr Haneen A’ali, Dr Hasan Yusuf, and Dr Kahtoon Abdulhusain from SMC, Dr Harish Bhardwaj from King Abdulla Medical City and Dr Hassan Alsetri from University of California.
Bahrain is considered one of the countries most affected by diabetes, with an incidence rate of 14.7pc in the adult population. Predictions indicate a high percentage of people with diabetic disease – to about a quarter of the region’s population – in the GCC countries by 2030.
“The existence of such diseases is attributable to healthcare availability, advances in medical and surgical management of ocular disorders, public awareness, and socioeconomic status,” the report added.
Visual impairment was ranked in 2015 as the third disability worldwide, after anaemia and hearing loss. Globally, the number of visually impaired of all ages is estimated to be 285 million, of which 39m are blind. It was estimated that 80pc of the total visual disability is due to preventable diseases, while socioeconomic factors could explain 69.4pc of global variations in the prevalence of visual impairment.
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