The effect of geodemographic factors on the attendance rates at a regional diabetic retinopathy treatment centre.

AIM

To determine whether geodemographic factors, specifically age, gender or commuting distance, affect the attendance rates of patients referred to a Diabetic Retinopathy Treatment (DRT) Centre from the Irish National Diabetic Retinal Screening (DRS) Programme.

METHODS

A retrospective analysis of the first 1200 patients who were referred for ophthalmic assessment between November 2013 and June 2015 to Cork University Hospital's (CUH) DRT clinic from the DRS was completed.

RESULTS

A total of 972 (81%) patients attended all their scheduled DRT appointments. The attendance rates for those living in counties Cork and Kerry were 83.9% and 72.5%, respectively. Fifty-seven (4.75%) patients failed to attend any of their clinic appointments (2.2% of Cork and 11.8% of Kerry referrals). Patients living within 60 km of the treatment centre were more likely to attend (p = 0.013). Both age and gender were also shown to have a statistically significant impact on attendance, with those under 40 years of age (p < 0.001) and male patients (p = 0.02) less likely to attend their scheduled appointments.

CONCLUSION

This study suggests a correlation between geodemographic factors (age, gender and commuting distance) and attendance at a DRT Centre. The longer commuting distance for Kerry patients contributes to their higher non-attendance rates indicating a need to provide a Kerry-based satellite treatment centre to improve accessibility.