Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is a major cause of blindness in the working-age population in Australia. Pregnancy is a known risk factor for its rapid progression to sight threatening disease, with a recent cohort study of pregnant women with pre-existing Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes in Melbourne finding that 1 in 5 women had signs of diabetic retinopathy and 1 in 10 had sight threatening disease. Only 65% of women at risk of DR managed to get their eyes checked during early pregnancy (<20 weeks), with 84% having had their eyes checked once sometime during pregnancy.
This talk will discuss recent developments in the management of DR - from the application of AI in screening, the importance of DR screening prior to conception, the implications of anti-VEGF treatments for DR in pregnancy, and the importance of ongoing eyecare through to the post partum.