Screening for Diabetic Retinopathy with or without a Copayment in a Randomized Controlled Trial: Influence of the Inverse Care Law – Corrected Proof

Objective: To examine whether the inverse care law operates in a screening program for diabetic retinopathy (DR) based on fee for service in Hong Kong. Design: Randomized controlled trial. Participants: All those with type 1 or 2 diabetes from 2 clinics were recruited. Intervention: Diabetic retinopathy screening with a small copayment versus free access in a publicly funded family medicine service. Main Outcome Measures: Uptake of screening and severity of DR detected. Association between these outcome variables and independent variables were determined using multivariate logistic regression models and reported as odds ratios (ORs). Results: After randomization, 1387 subjects in the (Read more...)

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