Diabetes patients who were screened for eye complications last year and selected to be referred to a specialist were found to have potentially sight-threatening conditions.

David Owens, an emeritus professor of diabetes at Cardiff University in Wales brought to the island by the Bermuda Diabetes Association, shared early results of the study at a presentation at Axa XL last week.

Findings showed that ten people screened could lose their vision with no intervention.

The screenings that took place in May revealed that 99 of the 172 did not have diabetic retinopathy, a condition that causes damage to the retina, 32 had mild retinopathy and 41 were referable to an ophthalmologist, a specialist capable of saving vision.

Of the 41 referred, 20 received full reports from the specialist and seven of them were found to have no diabetic retinopathy, 11 had cataracts and three had glaucoma.

In total, ten of the 20 had a sight-threatening disease — eight who required laser treatment and two who required laser treatment for vein occlusion.

The additional 21 referred patients did not have full reports but information about some of them was made available that could be included in the study — four had received laser treatment and two were waiting for cataracts surgery.

In summary of the results to date, 14 of the total referred required laser treatment – 34 per cent of the 41 – five required surgery for cataracts and three had glaucoma.

A full report from the ophthalmologist was pending.

Dr Owens said most patients being unaware of their conditions emphasised the importance of early screening.

“We were there for preventing sight loss in people who otherwise would have gone along and had some compromise in their vision,” he said.

“After going through the screening process, we looked at images of the eye and we graded them.

“We are happy when we see no evidence of diabetic retinopathy.

“Mild diabetic retinopathy is not so bad; this gives us the opportunity of making sure that they don’t get any worse and the opportunity of even getting rid of the retinopathy. There is lots of hope there.

“Then there are referable patients — those we refer to the ophthalmologist for further advice or treatment.”

Of those who attended the screenings, 88 per cent had type 2 diabetes, 9 per cent had type 1 diabetes and with 3 per cent it was unknown, while some 70 per cent had cardiovascular disease.

The average age of participants was 65.5 years and the average duration of their diabetes was 13.5 years.

“Diabetes duration was longer by about seven years than those people without any retinopathy,” Dr Owens said.

“People with a problem had diabetes for a longer period.

“Their haemoglobin A1C [average blood glucose levels], was also higher in those people with retinopathy.

“There was a tendency that the blood pressure was slightly higher in the diabetic with retinopathy.”

The eye test can reliably detect the risk of stroke, heart disease and other conditions by examining nerves and blood vessels within the eyes.

Dr Owens said: “We can preserve sight by screening.

“We can look at the eyes and we can predict if somebody has a problem with their heart or of they are likely to have a stroke, we can look at the kidneys and the feet — these are major complications of the diabetic patient.

“The future is great and there is a lot of work that we have been doing to predict who is likely to have whatever.

“Then we can look at the fact the blood pressure is high or the cholesterol is high and we can treat them, and then we know that they are not in the risk category.

“Diabetes is the fastest-growing global health emergency in our century. We have to take it very seriously indeed.

“You have to get a clinical champion who will fight that fight because the evidence is clearly there.”

Dr Owens said Bermuda could emulate the diabetic eye-screening programme run under Britain’s National Health Service, which makes a regular practice of studying patients with diabetes from the age of 12.