Changes in the diabetic retinopathy epidemiology after 14 years in a population of Type 1 and 2 diabetic patients after the new diabetes mellitus diagnosis criteria and a more strict control of the patients

Abstract Objective To determine the differences observed between two transversal studies separated 14 years. Methods The sample was obtained by randomized hazard selection of 1157 Type 2 and 93 Type 1 diabetic patients in the 2006 study, and 741 Type 2 and 76 Type 1 diabetic patients in the 1993 study. We evaluate the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy (DR), microalbuminuria, overt nephropathy, and its risk factors. Results In Type 2 diabetic patients, we observed a decrease of the prevalence of DR from 39.41% in the 1993 study to 27.48% in the 2006 study, but we did not observe it in Type 1 diabetic patients—35.52% in 1993 to 36.55% in 2006. The diabetic macular edema prevalence is similar in both studies—7.15% in 1993 and 7.86% in 2006 in Type 2 patients, and 11.84–12.90% in Type 1; microalbuminuria decreased in Type 2 but not in Type 1 patients (from 22.13% to 17.02% in Type 2, and 28.33–27.95% in Type 1); overt nephropathy decreased in both types of diabetic patients (in Type 1, decreased from 11.84% to 8.60% and, in Type 2, from 8.63% to 6.74%). We may observe a decrease in the number of patients with blindness, from 11.20% to 4.90% in Type 2, and from 9.21% to 7.52% in Type 1 patients. Conclusions We may observe a decrease in the prevalence of DR, overt nephropathy, and blindness in Type 1 and 2 patients and a decrease in the prevalence of microalbuminuria only in Type 2 patients.