Diabetic retinopathy, prevention and treatment on the Brazilian public health system: a literature review

Retinopatia diabética, prevenção e tratamento no sistema público de saúde brasileiro: uma revisão da literature

Abstract

This study aimed to elucidate the diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy, to show the importance of early diagnosis in primary services and to point out the misinformation of patients about it. A systematic review was made in the databases Scielo, PubMed and Lilacs, selecting 32 articles from the last 11 years. The diabetic patients’ misinformation on this condition is high, getting up to 76%. Also, most primary health services do not make exams such as fundoscopy, so the patients only discover the disease when losing visual acuity. Implementing the knowledge and the fundoscopy to these professionals can provide an early tracking of cases, decreasing the irreversible blindness through early treatment, avoiding greater suffering and sparing public money by preventing, instead of treating it.