Diabetic Retinopathy, 2016–2017: Far More Common With Type 1 Than Type 2 Diabetes

Adults with type 1 diabetes were far more likely than those with type 2 to have ever been told they had diabetic retinopathy, in both younger and older age groups. Among adults with prediabetes, it was rare.

Diabetic retinopathy among adults with prediabetes or diagnosed diabetes, by age group, with 95% confidence intervals. Image from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

How the survey asked

• Retinopathy: Have you ever been told by a doctor or other health professional that you had diabetic retinopathy?
• Diabetes: a "yes" to having been told by a doctor or health professional that they had diabetes, with the type from a follow-up question. To count as type 1, people also had to be taking insulin now (by shot or pump); anyone reporting type 2 was counted as type 2 regardless of insulin. Diabetes only during pregnancy was excluded.
• Prediabetes: having been told of prediabetes, impaired fasting glucose, impaired glucose tolerance, borderline diabetes or high blood sugar.
• Who: household interviews with the noninstitutionalized U.S. civilian population aged 18 and older, in the National Health Interview Survey, age-adjusted to the projected 2000 U.S. population.

Sources

Based on "QuickStats: Age-Adjusted Percentage of Adults Aged ≥18 Years Reporting Diabetic Retinopathy Among Those with Prediabetes or Diagnosed Diabetes, by Age Group — National Health Interview Survey, 2016–2017," reported by Sarah E. Lessem, Johanna M. Alfier, Robin P. Pendley Louis and Zakia C. Nelson, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 68(21), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a work of the United States government in the public domain.