부산대학교 도서관

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the leading cause of blindness for working age Americans. Early detection, timely treatment, and appropriate follow-up care reduce the risk of severe vision loss from DR by 95%, yet, less than 50% of people with diabetes adhere to the recommended screening guidelines. Diabetes is a complicated disease for patients and their physicians to manage. We developed a microsimulation integrating the natural history model of DR with a patient’s interaction with the care system. We introduced a DR screening device in primary care, with and without care coordination by a medical professional, in two interventions to the current care path. We found the interventions increased adherence of patients with vision-threatening DR (VTDR) to follow-up eye care, decreased the number of ‘unnecessary’ visits in specialty eye care from patients without VTDR, and decreased the total years spent blind.