Publication:

Diabetic retinopathy and quality of life among adults with type 2 diabetes in Saudi Arabia

Background Diabetic retinopathy is a common microvascular complication of type 2 diabetes mellitus and may affect quality of life. Evidence using generic quality-of-life instruments remains limited in Saudi Arabia. The objectives were to assess quality of life among adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus in Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia, using the WHOQOL-BREF, and to examine whether diabetic retinopathy is associated with domain scores.

Methods This cross-sectional study included adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus identified from the management of population health records. Quality of life was assessed using the Arabic world health organization quality of life - brief (WHOQOL-BREF). Domain scores were transformed to a 0–100 scale. Independent-samples t-tests and multiple linear regression analyses were used to compare scores by retinopathy status and assess adjusted associations.

Results A total of 529 participants were included, of whom 101 (19.1%) had diabetic retinopathy. No significant differences were found between participants with and without retinopathy in the physical, psychological, social relationships, or environmental domains in unadjusted analyses. In adjusted analyses, diabetic retinopathy was not significantly associated with any WHOQOL-BREF domain score. Cronbach’s alpha ranged from 0.542 to 0.806 across domains.

Conclusion Diabetic retinopathy was not significantly associated with WHOQOL-BREF domain scores among adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus in Al-Ahsa. These findings suggest that retinopathy status alone may not independently predict overall quality of life when assessed using a generic instrument.