Barriers and Disparities of Diabetic Retinopathy Screening in Minorities

Diabetic retinopathy is a major complication of diabetes that causes vision loss in the working age population if left untreated. Numerous studies have linked the increased glucose levels caused by diabetes as the primary cause for the dysfunction of retinal vascular cells. Tight regulation of glucose levels has been proposed as a beneficial strategy to reduce complications of diabetes. In addition, early diagnosis and treatment decrease the risk of severe vision loss by 90 percent. Unfortunately, in many cases tight regulation of glucose is difficult to achieve. In Racial and ethnic minority patients are more likely to have poor glycemic control and are less likely to be screened for diabetic retinopathy than their white counterpart. It is important to understand the barriers and disparities of the screening behavior. The study identifies and address the disparities and barriers associated with diabetic retinopathy screening. We evaluated the Social-ecological framework to help identify the barriers that affect the eye screening by the interaction between the individual, the community, the physical, social, and political environments. The data was collected using a 23-item survey which included item regrading vision impairment, access and utilization of health care from the CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. The data revealed that the people that are in greatest need of eye screening are the individual who had a history of health care, eye problem and had not been seen by a health care provider in the past year. Most of those people live in low socio-economic neighborhoods. The study will help identify the reasons of the lack of screening. That will help develop and test interventions to overcome the barriers. The goal is to reduce vision loss from diabetic retinopathy in communities that have limited access to eye screening