The American Optometric Association has played an active role in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Diabetes Translation (DDT) for over ten years. Eye docs hanging out with diabetes specialists? Of course. Diabetic retinopathy, according to the National Institute of Health, affects “4.2 million—28.5%— of people with diabetes ages 40 years or older … and of these, 655,000—4.4% of those with diabetes—had advanced diabetic retinopathy that could lead to severe vision loss.”
W. Lee Ball, O.D., AOA Associate Director for Quality Improvement gave a presentation entitled “Working Together to Manage Diabetes: Development and Testing of a Comprehensive Checklist.” Of the medical professionals across several fields who responded to a questionnaire regarding the efficacy of the checklist, 74% said they found it useful in a real-world clinical setting. Source: News from the AOA
The AOA recommends that those interested in diabetes prevention, care and treatment visit: www.yourdiabetesinfo.org, an address that links you to a wealth of diabetes information from the National Diabetes Education Program.