Diabetes Health in the News: Diabetic Youth Fail to Get Screened for Eye Complications

Current American Diabetes Association guidelines recommend that youth with diabetes receive diabetic retinopathy screenings. Type 2 diabetes patients should receive their screening at the time of their initial diagnosis, while type 1 patients should receive their screening within 3-5 years. However, evidence suggests that many youth patients fail to get these screenings at all.

A recent study from the University of Michigan found that only 64.9% of insured youths with type 1 diabetes received a diabetic retinopathy screening during an eye exam. This was compared to 42.2% of insured youths with type 2 diabetes. Additionally, researchers found that youths with type 1 diabetes were 114% more likely to have the eye exam within six years of their diagnosis than youth with type 2 diabetes.

These findings were published in JAMA Ophthalmology on March 23, 2017.