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New research · Ophthalmology
The New Zealand medical journal · 5d
Cohort studyThe New Zealand medical journal · 2026

Interrupted diabetes eye care in Te Toka Tumai Auckland 2008-2019: analysis of routinely collected health-facility data.

Pushkar R Silwal, Maryam Pirouzi, Arier Lee … Jacqueline Ramke
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OphthalmologyCohort study

Nearly one-third of diabetes patients had delayed retinal screening beyond 24 months.

Interrupted diabetes eye care in Te Toka Tumai Auckland 2008-2019: analysis of routinely collected health-facility data.

Pushkar R Silwal … Jacqueline Ramke
The New Zealand medical journal · 2026
Purpose

The aim of this study was to quantify interrupted care (delayed care and complete loss to follow-up) across the diabetes eye care pathway among people aged ≥15 years in Auckland, New Zealand, and assess disparities by age, sex, ethnicity, deprivation and diabetes duration.

Methods

We analysed data from people engaged with diabetes retinal screening in Auckland between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2019.

n = 4,471
Results
30.4%
nearly 1 in 3 patients waited too long for their eye checkup
n = 4,471
More results

Similar proportions were observed for a delay beyond 6 months when referred from retinal screening to ophthalmology with referrable retinopathy (n=648/1,909; 33.9%) and a delay beyond 12 months between ophthalmology review (n=366/1,136; 32.2%) or complete loss to follow-up from these two stages (n=433/1,909; 22.7% and n=188/1,136; 16.5% respectively).

More results

Younger adults were more likely to experience complete loss to follow-up from retinal screening and ophthalmology review compared to people aged 50-59 years; compared to NZ Europeans, all other ethnicity groups were more likely to be lost to follow-up from retinal screening, with Māori and Pacific peoples experiencing the greatest disparity.

“
Conclusion

Loss to follow-up and delayed care were common across all stages of the diabetes care pathway assessed, with disparities by age and ethnicity.

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