To study the awareness of diabetes and diabetic retinopathy in type 2 diabetic patients – a hospital based study

Dr. Sayli Kulthe; Dr. Shashank Somani

Volume : VIII, Issue : VIII, August - 2018

To study the awareness of diabetes and diabetic retinopathy in type 2 diabetic patients – a hospital based study

Dr. Sayli Kulthe, Dr. Shashank Somani

Abstract :

Introduction: Diabetic retinopathy is becoming an increasingly important cause of visual impairment in India. Many diabetic patients who come to our centre have undetected, advanced diabetic retinopathy. If diabetic retinopathy had been detected earlier in these patients, irreversible visual impairment could have been prevented. Aim: to assess the level of awareness of diabetic retinopathy in type 2 diabetic patients coming to the eye clinic at a tertiary care centre. Materials and Methods: This was a hospital–based, cross–sectional study, conducted at the Department of Ophthalmology at Smt. Kashibainavale medical college, Pune , India, over a two month period from Feb 2014 to April 2014. Three hundred and ten diabetic patients, who fulfilled the eligibility criteria, were included in the study. Patients with type 1 diabetes were excluded from the study. Data were analysed using Chi–square test and binarylogistic regression, as appropriate. Results: Out of the 310 patients that were included in the study, 56.77% had a good knowledge about diabetes and only 40.96% were aware of the treatment for diabetes. Retinopathy as a complication of diabetes was surprisingly known to only 40.32% patients and only 18.70% were aware about the treatment of diabetic retinopathy. Only 13.54% patients had the awareness about the regular follow up in presence of diabetic retinopathy and the main reason for not getting regular eye checkup was the lack of knowledge ( 59.67%) followed by other causes like lack of access to eye hospital ( 32.25%) and lack of family support for regular follow up ( 25.48%). Conclusion: Good knowledge about the disease was significantly associated with positive attitude and good practice patterns. Knowledge about diabetic retinopathy was poor among the patients in our study. Lack of awareness concerning the need for screening for retinopathy was a major barrier to regular screening. There is an urgent need to educate diabetic patients about this potentially blinding complication of diabetes.