Effectiveness of Teleretinal Imaging-Based Hospital Referral Compared With Universal Referral in Identifying Diabetic Retinopathy: A Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Studies in high-income countries provide limited evidence from randomized clinical trials on the benefits of teleretinal screening to identify diabetic retinopathy (DR).

Objective

To evaluate the effectiveness of teleretinal-screening hospital referral (TR) compared with universal hospital referral (UR) in people with diabetes.

Design, setting, and participants

A cluster randomized clinical trial of 8 diabetes clinics within 10 km from Aravind Eye Hospital (AEH), Madurai, India, was conducted. Participants included 801 patients older than 50 years. The study was conducted from May 21, 2014, to February 7, 2015; data analysis was performed from March 12 to June 16, 2015.

Interventions

In the TR cohort, nonmydriatic, 3-field, 45° retinal images were re

SUBMITTER: Joseph S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6512266 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature