Author Interviews, BMJ, Diabetes / 12.11.2015
New Tool Predicts Risk of Blindness and Amputation in Diabetes
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Prof. Julia Hippisley-Cox PhD
Professor of Clinical Epidemiology & General Practice
Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences
The University of Nottingham
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Prof. Hippisley-Cox:
Patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes are at increased risk of blindness and amputation but generally do not have an accurate assessment of the magnitude of their individual risk. There are currently no tools available to calculate risk of other complications such as amputation or blindness. This is important since these are the complications which patients with diabetes fear most and which most impair quality of life. They are also the complications for which patients are most likely to over-estimate their risk and over-estimate the benefits of intensive treatment.
We have developed and externally validated new risk prediction algorithms which calculates absolute risk of developing these complications over a 10 year period in patients with diabetes, taking account of their individual risk factors.
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