Data analyzed by the Brazilian Council of Ophthalmology (CBO), based on records from the Ministry of Health, reveal a 95% increase in the performance of tests for diagnosing diabetic retinopathy in the Unified Health System (SUS) this year compared to 2020, most critical period of the covid-19 pandemic.
From January to August 2020, 3.3 million tests like this were carried out, against 6.4 million in the same period of 2022. The number even surpasses the pre-pandemic performance, since, in 2019, 5 were computed. .1 million diagnostic tests for diabetic retinopathy.
“After a period of significant drop in the volume of consultations, exams and ophthalmological procedures by the Unified Health System (SUS), due to the impact on the service caused by the covid-19 pandemic, a new trend is installed in the public network”, highlighted the advice.
For the entity, the effects of vaccination against covid-19 and the drop in morbidity and mortality indicators for the disease motivated patients to seek public services to diagnose and prevent diseases that affect vision, as is the case of diabetic retinopathy.
Detailing
The report evaluated, in all, records of four types of exams for the diagnosis of the disease available in the SUS: fundus biomicroscopy, retinal mapping, binocular color retinography and binocular fluorescent retinography. The breakdown shows that all procedures increased in 2022 compared to 2020.
From January to August 2019, around 645,000 tests of these four types were performed per month. In the same period of the following year, when the pandemic was declared, the total dropped to 413,000 monthly. In 2022, the average, according to the council, already exceeds 805 thousand procedures, a higher number than that recorded before the health crisis.
Profile
Data show that women represent the majority of patients undergoing diagnostic tests for retinopathy. In the periods from January to August of the years 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, 8.3 million tests were carried out in the female population against 5.3 million in men.
With regard to age, most procedures occurred in the population over 40 years old. This segment totaled, in 2022 alone, 3.7 million exams.
Diabetic retinopathy
Diabetic retinopathy is an eye complication that, without early diagnosis and treatment, can evolve rapidly and lead to partial or total loss of vision. Diabetes mellitus is the triggering factor of the disease.
People with diabetes are at risk of losing sight 25 times more than non-diabetics, and diabetic retinopathy affects more than 75% of people with diabetes for more than 20 years.
Diabetes control through proper diet, use of hypoglycemic pills, insulin or a combination of these treatments, prescribed by the endocrinologist, are the main way to avoid the disease.
