Purpose: To evaluate the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in a diabetic association, as well the level of knowledge about the entity among patients. Methods: This study included 46 patients, at random, from a diabetic association that answered questions about DR and previous ophthalmoscopic examination. Then, they were submitted to indirect ophthalmoscopic evaluation. Results: Among type 1 diabetic patients, the study found 44.44% of patients with DR and one case of proliferative retinopathy; among type 2, 24.3% of pacients with DR; 65.22% of the total had never been submitted to ophthalmoscopic examination, although 80.43% had already received some information about DR. Conclusions: This study shows that there is low coverage of preventive and detection examinations for DR in this diabetic association, which contrasts with the acceptable level of the patients knowledge, besides being an association directed only to diabetic patients.
Diabetes; Retinopathy
