Eye Care Utilization among a High-Risk Diabetic Population Seen in a Public Hospital’s Clinics

Details

• Alternative Title:
  JAMA Ophthalmol
• Personal Author:
  MacLennan, Paul A. ; McGwin, Gerald ; Heckemeyer, Christine ; Lolley, Virginia R. ; Hullett, Sandral ; Saaddine, Jinan ; Shrestha, Sundar S. ; Owsley, Cynthia
• Description:
  Objective
  
  Little is known regarding eye care utilization among low income persons with diabetes, especially African Americans.
  
  Methods
  
  A retrospective cohort study with two-years of follow-up examined eye care utilization among adult diabetes patients seen in 2007 in the internal medicine clinic of a large, urban, county hospital that serves primarily low income, non-Hispanic African American patients. Patients with a history of retinopathy and macular edema or a current diagnosis indicating ophthalmic complications were excluded. Eye care utilization was defined dichotomously as whether or not patients had a visit to the eye clinic for any eye care examination or procedure. We estimated crude and adjusted rate ratios (aRRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between eye care utilization and selected clinical and demographic characteristics.
  
  Results
  
  There were 867 patients with diabetes identified: 61.9% women, 76.2% non-Hispanic African American, 61.3% indigent, and average age 51.8 years. Eye care utilization was 33.2% within one-year and 45.0% within two-years. For patients 19–39 years of age compared to those 65+ years, significantly decreased eye care utilization was observed within one-year (aRR=0.48, 95% CI 0.27–0.84) and within two-years (aRR=0.61, 95% CI 0.38–0.99).
  
  Conclusions
  
  Overall eye care utilization was low. Additional education efforts to increase the perception of need among urban minority populations may be enhanced if focused on younger people with diabetes.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Adult Aged Aged, 80 And Over Black Or African American Blindness Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 Diabetic Retinopathy Female Follow-Up Studies Health Services Health Services Research Hospitals, Public Humans Male Middle Aged Ophthalmology Outpatient Clinics, Hospital Retrospective Studies Risk Factors Vision, Low White People Young Adult

  More +
• Source:
  JAMA Ophthalmol. 132(2):162-167.
• Pubmed ID:
  24310149
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC4479276
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  1U58DP002651/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHS/United States ; U58 DP002651/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHS/United States
• Place as Subject:
  Alabama
• Volume:
  132
• Issue:
  2
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:1b1959723cd9cf834ee3cd79dddb66deb6c11562e90b6ce53149e8696d8b07cc
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/31753/cdc_31753_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 164.46 KB ]