Pattern of Daiabetic Retinopathy and its Effects on Health Related Quality of Life in In-Patients at Endocrinology Unit, Hayatabad Medical Complex Peshawar

Introduction: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder, it affects the whole body, but it has serious effects on nerves, kidneys, heart and eyes. Diabetes mellitus causes retinopathy, which is one of the most significant consequences; high level of blood sugar damages the small blood vessels in the retina which is called microangiopathy. Diabetic retinopathy is one of the most common causes of acquired visual loss in working age group of adults and it has severe impact on the health related1quality of life (HRQoL). Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was done at endocrinology unit of Hayatabad medical complex in six months’ period. The total sample size was 318. Data was collected from endocrinology unit with a validated questionnaire through nonprobability convenience sampling.DM diagnosed patients were selected and those who were not willing to participate and were physically not able to interact, were excluded from the study. Results: There were 141(44.3%) male and 177(55.7%) female participants among the total 318 participants in the study. Among these 56(17.6%) participants having mild diabetic retinopathy,81(25.5%) participants having moderate diabetic retinopathy,120(37.7%) participants having severe diabetic retinopathy while 61(19.2%) of the participants were not having clinically significant diabetic retinopathy. There was significant association of diabetic retinopathy with health-related quality of life (p value 0.04). There was a weak positive correlation between vision related quality of life (VRQOL) and the health related quality of life (HRQOL) relationship was positive (r (316(=0.124,p=0.027), it was statistically significant. The results showed that gender, socioeconomic condition, visual acuity, laser status for ocular problems, vitrectomy, and cataract has significant association with diabetic retinopathy Conclusion: We conclude that diabetic retinopathy is quite prevalent in diabetic patients and is affecting the HRQOL. VRQOL is one of the associated factors resulting in poor HRQOL in these patients. Preventing measures including health education of the diabetic patients need to be ensured for regular ocular examination, to limit the complications of diabetes including poor HRQOL.