Teleophthalmology provides earlier eye care access for patients with newly-diagnosed diabetes.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Timely diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy is important in preventing vision loss. This study aims to determine if remote retinal imaging enables earlier eye care access among newly-diagnosed diabetic patients.

Design

Retrospective cohort study.

Methods

Using the OptumLabs® Data Warehouse - a longitudinal, real-world dataset containing deidentified administrative claims and electronic health record (EHR) data, we included 968 846 adults with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes and at least 1 year of continuous enrollment. We compared time from initial diabetes diagnosis to first eye exam by remote screening or in-person eye exam.

Results

We found that at year 1 after diagnosis, 5459 (0.56%) patients underwent remote imaging and 208 023 (21.5%) underwent in-pe

SUBMITTER: Lieng MK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10878910 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature