DECS, Diabetic Eye disease in Children Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
DECS, Diabetic Eye disease in Children Study: incidence, detection / presentation, clinical characteristics and outcomes of diabetic eye disease in childhood in the UK
IRAS ID
95030
Contact name
Jugnoo Rahi
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
UCL Institute of Child Health
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Despite the on-going increase in the burden of childhood diabetes, little is known about childhood diabetic eye disease in the UK, particularly how common it is, how it develops, and its possible consequences for future vision. We propose to address this paucity of information in order to help plan the services and treatments children need to prevent visual loss and improve overall disease management. This study will provide currently unavailable data which cannot be accessed from existing routine sources.
We plan a national study of childhood diabetic eye disease (retinopathy / cataract) and diabetes-related visual disability, investigating variations (eg by age, gender, ethnicity), clinical characteristics, patterns of detection and short term outcomes. Information about newly diagnosed children will be collected from their managing ophthalmologists and reported to the long-established British Ophthalmic Surveillance Unit (BOSU), which has facilitated key recent national studies of childhood eye disorders, including studies carried out by our team.
As with our prior studies, we have established a clinical research network comprising ophthalmologists who manage children with diabetes, as the forum for implementing the study and for translating findings into practice to directly impact on care.
REC name
London - Bloomsbury Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/LO/1810
Date of REC Opinion
11 Nov 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion