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TOPLINE
Nearly 12% of children and young people with type 1 diabetes (T1D) in England who were screened in 2024-2025 had diabetic retinopathy (DR), and a longer duration of diabetes and higher mean systolic blood pressure (BP) independently predicted its presence.
METHODOLOGY
- Researchers conducted a retrospective, cross‑sectional review of retinal screening records to estimate the prevalence of DR in children and young people with T1D and to identify clinical risk factors associated with its presence.
- Records between January 2024 and December 2025 were collected from six paediatric diabetes centres in England; a total of 676 children and young people aged 12-18 years were included in the analysis.
- The presence of retinopathy was determined using routine classifications and defined as background, preproliferative, or proliferative DR; maculopathy was recorded as absent or present where available.
- Clinical variables examined included age at diagnosis, diabetes duration, mean A1c levels over the past 48 months, mean BP, insulin regimen, and ethnicity.
TAKEAWAY
- The prevalence of DR was 11.8% (80 of 676 participants), with 79 cases of background DR and one case of preproliferative DR; no cases of proliferative DR or maculopathy were identified.
- In adjusted analysis, a longer duration of diabetes and higher mean systolic BP independently predicted DR (P = .002 and P = .043, respectively).
IN PRACTICE
"[The study] findings suggest the importance of earlier screening and intervention of diabetes and stricter glycaemic control," the authors wrote.
SOURCE
The study was led by Darren J.C. Toh, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England. It was published online on September 08, 2026, in Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism.
LIMITATIONS
The retrospective, cross‑sectional design of the study and the reliance on data from six centres concentrated in northern England may have limited generalisability and prevented causal inference.
DISCLOSURES
The authors did not report any funding and declared having no relevant conflicts of interest.
This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.
