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    Diabetic retinopathy evidence gap map

    A female eye health worker checks a woman's eyes.

    What this map shows

    At Sightsavers, our EGMs summarise, appraise, and present evidence from systematic or literature reviews.

    The diabetic retinopathy EGM compiles evidence from 124 reviews. Three of these reviews cover more than one thematic area and were thus included in the EGM multiple times. Among these, 34 reviews cover screening of diabetic retinopathy, 33 address the treatment of diabetic retinopathy, 26 tackle the risk or prevention, and 22 reports on the burden of the disease. The remaining reviews address the cost-benefit (four), access to services (three), quality of clinical care (two), and quality of life (two). This gap map reveals clear evidence gaps at the health-systems sector level.

    In response to the authors’ research questions, 93 reviews provide strong evidence, 17 reviews present weak or no evidence, and additional 17 reviews yield inconclusive (mixed) results. The reviews were assessed for quality: 71 reviews are graded as low quality, 44 as medium quality, and nine as high methodological quality.

    Find out more about the key messages from this EGM in our diabetic retinopathy evidence brief or for more detailed information refer to the report.

    How to read an evidence gap map


    Read our how to guide

    Read our how to guide

    How much detail would you like to see?

    Sectors
    Burden of disease
    Biomedical
    Service Delivery
    Health Systems
    Impact/Economic Evaluation
    Strength of Evidence
    Epi
    Risk
    Treat
    C.Detect
    QCC
    QNCC
    Access
    Workforce
    Financing
    Leadership
    HMIS
    Tech
    QoL
    Cost
    Strong
    17
    22
    21
    25
    3
    3
    1
    3
    Inconclusive
    4
    3
    4
    5
    1
    1
    Weak
    1
    4
    8
    4
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    Are we missing a systematic review?

    This evidence gap map was last updated in 2024.
    Help us keep this gap map up to date by sending us an email: gapmap@sightsavers.org

    Reference

    Sightsavers (2022). Diabetic retinopathy Evidence Gap Map [online] Available at: https://research.sightsavers.org/evidence-gap-maps/diabetic-retinopathy-gap-map/ [Add date accessed]

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