Retinopathy Among Undiagnosed Patients of Pakistan : Diabetes and its Microvascular Complications

One of the most severe chronic complications of diabetes mellitus is retinopathy. Diabetic retinopathy is a microangiopathy of retina, which it affects nearly all the person with diabetes. The frequency of diabetic retinopathy in Pakistan is 33%. In diabetic retinopathy the visual acuity is lost when the area of the sharpest vision on retina is affected severely by the pre or intraretinal hemorrhages, macular edema, tractional detachment, or due to loss of capillaries of the peripheral loop network. This increase in sorbitol concentration has been hypothesized to cause osmotic damage to vessels of retina. Diabetic retinopathy consists of several stages including non-proliferative stage (NPDR), which is commonly called as background retinopathy, or BDR pre-proliferative stage and proliferative stage. There are several risk factors, which are responsible for the occurrence and progression of diabetic retinopathy. The basic risk factors are hypertension, duration of disease and quality of glycemic control, while others include the type of diabetes, sex, hyperlipidemia, anemia, HbA1c level, and surgery for premature cataracts in diabetic patients.