Question

The screening strategy for prevention of blindness from diabetic retinopathy according to the NPCB involves:

• A. Opportunistic screening
• B. High risk screening
• C. Mass screening
• D. Screening by primary care physician

Hint:

Retinopathy only affects diabetics, so you screen only the at risk group.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Step 1: Diabetic retinopathy is a leading cause of preventable blindness, and the National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB) includes it as a priority condition.
Step 2: Screening every person in the population for retinopathy is not feasible or cost effective, so mass screening is not the chosen strategy.
Step 3: Retinopathy only occurs in people who already have diabetes. The logical and resource efficient approach is to screen the group at risk, that is known diabetics, for early retinal changes. This is high risk screening, where only the subgroup with an established risk factor is examined.
Step 4: Opportunistic screening means testing people who happen to attend for some other reason, which is not the planned NPCB strategy for retinopathy. Screening solely by a primary care physician is not the defined method, since fundus assessment needs trained eye examination.
The correct answer is option B (High risk screening).