Publication:

Impact of severity of diabetic retinopathy on quality of life in type 2 Indian diabetic patients

Background Diabetes mellitus is a global public health challenge of 21st century and diabetic retinopathy is a common complication of long standing and poorly controlled diabetes which hampers patient’s physical, social and emotional well-being leading to poor quality of life. Objective was to study the correlation between severity of diabetic retinopathy and quality of life in type II DM patients.

Methods A prospective, longitudinal and observational study was conducted in 120 patients of type II diabetes with diabetic retinopathy in a tertiary eye care centre of North India over a period from Feb. 2019 to March 2020. After doing initial ocular and systemic examination, each patient was interviewed in their local language as per NEI-VFQ-25 questionnaire. The response was calibrated quantitatively and total QoL score was calculated.

Results Out of 120 patients of diabetic retinopathy, QoL Score was 69.8-88.8 in mild NPDR, 53.2-72.4 in moderate, 37.8-58.4 in severe NPDR and 22.4-42.2 in PDR with statistically significant difference (p<0.001). Median QoL Score was highest in mild NPDR patients and lowest in PDR, which signifies that quality of life deteriorates with severity of DR.

Conclusions Diabetic retinopathy has an adverse effect on the QoL, which increases with severity of DR.