Prevalence of diabetic retinopathy in Brazil: a systematic review with meta-analysis
Thiago Alves Chagas, Mateus Augusto dos Reis, Gabriel Leivas, Lucas Porto Santos, Agnes Nogueira Gossenheimer, Gustavo Barreto Melo, Fernando Korn Malerbi, Beatriz D. Schaan
Abstract
AIMS: To evaluate the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in Brazilian adults with diabetes mellitus via a systematic review with meta-analysis. METHODS: A systematic review using PubMed, EMBASE, and Lilacs was conducted, searching for studies published up to February 2022. Random effect meta-analysis was performed to estimate the DR prevalence. RESULTS: 98%). Diabetic retinopathy prevalence was highest in patients with longer duration of diabetes and in patients from Southern Brazil. CONCLUSION: This review shows a similar prevalence of DR as compared to other low- and middle-income countries. However, the high heterogeneity observed-expected in systematic reviews of prevalence-raises concerns about the interpretation of these results, suggesting the need for multicenter studies with representative samples and standardized methodology.