Diabetes mellitus affects over 3.9 million people in the UK, with over 2.6 million people in England alone. Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a common microvascular complication of type 1 and type 2 diabetes and remains a major cause of vision loss and blindness in those of working age. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommendations are for annual screening using digital retinal photography for all patients with diabetes aged 12 years and over until such time as specialist surveillance or referral to Hospital Eye Services (HES) is required.

Birmingham, Solihull and Black Country DR screening program is a member of the National Health Service (NHS) Diabetic Eye Screening Programme. This dataset contains routine community annual longitudinal screening patient results of over 200000 patients with screening results per patient ranging from 1 year to 15 years. Key data included are: • Total number of patients screened and graded over a 15 year period. • Demographic information (including age, sex and ethnicity) • Diabetes status • Diabetes type • Length of time since diagnosis of diabetes • Visual acuity • The national screening diabetic screening grade category (seven categories from R0M0 to R3M1) • Diabetic eye clinical features • Reason for sight and severe sight impairment • Screening Outcome (digital surveillance and time referral to HES)

Geography Birmingham, Solihull and Black Country is set within the West Midlands and has a population of circa 5.9million. The region includes a diverse ethnic, and socio-economic mix, with a higher than UK average of minority ethnic groups. It has a large number of elderly residents but is the youngest population in the UK. There are particularly high rates of diabetes, physical inactivity, obesity, and smoking.

Data source: The Birmingham, Solihull and Black Country Data Set, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Birmingham, United Kingdom. They manage over 200, 000 patients, with longitudinal follow-up up to 15 years, making this the largest urban diabetic screening scheme in Europe.

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