A community screening programme involving trained optometrists using slit-lamp examinations with Volk lenses can help detect diabetic retinopathy.
Dr. Shirley Hulme, at the Whiston Hospital, in Merseyside, England, and colleagues evaluated the effectiveness of a district-wide diabetic retinopathy screening programme in a community of 340,000 persons.
They compared the audit against the national targets of greater than 80 percent sensitivity, greater than 95 percent specificity, and follow-up referral time less than three months. “Debate exists about the optimum way to screen for diabetic retinopathy,” the researchers wrote. “Cameras produce a permanent record, but offer patients less choice about when and where to be screened.
Optometrists offer flexibility but sensitivity and specificity of schemes have varied considerably, perhaps because of variability in screening methodology and that there is frequently no quality assurance programme.”
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