Muhammad Zubair Nazar*, Afresh Maqbool and Muhammad Basit
Objective
To determine the awareness of Diabetic Retinopathy in Diabetic Patients.
Material and Methods
After taking consent and recording demographic details, an interviewer based questionnaire was used to assess patients’ awareness about ocular complications of diabetes on a 10 points questionnaire before their fundus examination using Ophthalmoscope and slit lamp microscope with + 90 Diopter lens in the eye OPD.
Result
Among the enrolled 300 patients, 146 (48.7 %) were male and 154 (51.3 %) patients were female. As far as the age of the patients was concerned, 5 % were from less than 20 years, 29 % from 21 - 40 years, 43 % from 41 - 60 years and 22.3 % were more than 60 years. The mean age of the participants was 49 + SD 10.01 years. Maximum number was seen in 41 - 60 years age group i.e. 131 patients. There were 44 (14.7 %) patients with newly diagnosed Diabetes. 124 (41.3 %) patients with less than 5 years diabetes durations and 132 (44.00 %) patients had diabetes for more than 5 years.
Conclusion
The knowledge about diabetic retinopathy and its treatment was inadequate along with poor compliance with annual fundus examination. This is directly related to the educational level of the patient and the duration of diabetes.
