Increased awareness, education needed to prevent diabetic retinopathy epidemic in Eastern Mediterranean region

CHICAGO — The rate of diabetes around the world is expected to double by 2030, creating a potential epidemic of diabetic retinopathy in areas such as the Eastern Mediterranean region, where "major social and economic changes" have been increasing the rate of diabetes there, a clinician said.

"Diabetes is reaching an epidemic in the region and so will diabetic retinopathy," Mohammed Babar Qureshi, BMBCh, said here at the joint meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Middle East African Council of Ophthalmology. "I am sure the [World Health Organization] is coming up with new figures on blindness and its causes worldwide. I would not be surprised if diabetic retinopathy became one of the leading causes of blindness with the new figures that should or would come out."

Dr. Qureshi said the prevalence of diabetes varies across the Eastern Mediterranean region, which encompasses countries in the Middle East and North Africa, from between 7% and 25%. The onset of type 2 diabetes is being reported at an increasingly younger age there, he said.

He attributed the increase to significant changes in lifestyle, including nutrition, physical activity and increased smoking. He said those changes must be addressed with education and awareness of the disease to help alter lifestyle factors.