Awareness of Diabetic Eye Diseases in Diabetic Patients

Abstract

The study aims to assess the awareness of diabetic eye disease among diabetic patients. Diabetes mellitus is a rapidly growing global concern that may cause several complications. The ophthalmic complications that diabetic patients are prone to are diabetic retinopathy, cataract, and glaucoma. One of the most common microvascular complications of diabetes is diabetic retinopathy. The study is a community-based cross-sectional descriptive study involving 100 diabetic patients who visited a tertiary care hospital, Saveetha Medical College who gave consent for the study. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Institutional Review Board (IRB). The 100 study participants filled up a structured questionnaire with 26 questions that were validated by two experts in the field. The age, gender, educational status, occupation, duration of diabetes, undergoing treatment, associated risk factors, awareness regarding diabetes caused ophthalmic complications, their knowledge on how important regular eye check-ups are for the diabetic patients, and whether they are aware that it could cause blindness. The questionnaire also assessed their practice patterns for regular eye check-ups. The results were presented in the form of text, pie charts, tables, and figures. 86% of the study participants knew that diabetes could cause eye diseases. 8% knew that diabetes could cause cataract. 65% knew that diabetes could cause glaucoma. 70% knew that diabetes could cause diabetic retinopathy. These results were compared to the results of similar research papers. Though there is awareness amongst the majority of the study participants, the practice pattern shows that 54% of the study participant do not go for regular eye check-ups. More community awareness is required for better efficiency to prevent treatable blindness in India.