부산대학교 도서관

Aims/Purpose: Diabetes Mellitus is a disease with increased prevalence in the world with an estimation of 8 to 10% of the European population affected. Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is its main ocular complication (affecting up to 20% of diabetics) and the main cause of vision loss in European working population. DR screening via telemedicine is fully accepted as a powerful tool to maintain the standards of care. Castilla and León is an extensive autonomous community in Spain and developed a telemedicine eye screening program based on reading centre (RC) support. The purpose of this work was to analyse the results achieved by the program in the period 2018–2022. Methods: Program is currently active in two provinces and scheduled to be extended to all. It consists of 8 non mydriatic fundus cameras used by certified photographers acquiring images according to the JVN protocol under mydriasis. The images are analysed remotely at IOBA RC by a certified optometrist, or an ophthalmologist in case of suspicion of pathology. Results: Globally, 22 430 examinations (179 440 pictures) have been performed since the beginning. Only 8.7% of examinations were not valuable, mainly due to media opacities. Of gradable examinations 70% showed no signs of pathology and 13.2% showed any level of DR. Only 1.3% had sight‐threatening DR and were referred to secondary care (hospital). In addition, 8.1% showed other pathology but RD and 33 patients were referred (AMD, vascular occlusions, etc.). The range of recruitment referred of global diabetic census is 54.2%–21.51% despite the impact of the pandemic. Our goal is to reach 70% of census. Conclusions: RC assisted telemedicine is a successful model for DR screening. It allows for the identification of sight‐threatening RD, other prevalent eye pathology and its referral for treatment, thus maintaining the standards of care for the diabetic population contributing to reducing the care burden of hospitals and the health system sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]