Saba Haider Tarar, Waseem Ahmed Khan, Muhammad Irfan Sadiq, Mussarat Jabeen, Muhammad Usman Sadiq, Sara Najeeb.
Awareness of Diabetic Retinopathy in Diabetic patients at Divisional Headquarters Teaching Hospital, Mirpur, AJK.
Al-Shifa J Ophthalmol Jan ;14(2):72-9.

Objective: To determine the awareness of Diabetic Retinopathy in Diabetic Patients at Divisional Headquarters Teaching Hospital, Mirpur, AJK Study Design: Cross sectional observational study. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted over a period of one year on diabetic patients visiting the outpatient department of Divisional Headquarters Teaching Hospital, Mirpur, AJK. Subjects and Methods: This study was done using a questionnaire filled by a skilled interviewer who recorded the information after taking consent from the patients. The demographic details were recorded including the education level. Patients` awareness about ocular complications of diabetes was recorded on a 10 points questionnaire before their fundus examination using non-mydriatic fundus camera. The proforma was designed to observe the specific knowledge about ocular complications of diabetes, diabetic retinopathy, its treatment, modalities, disease complications and its prevention. The patients were divided into 5 groups according to their educational levels and 3 groups according to the duration of disease. Results: Among the enrolled 300 patients, 146 (48.7%) were male and 154 (51.3%) patients were female. The mean age of the participants was 49 + SD 10.01 years. According to the data, p- value was significant for level of education versus knowledge about normal range of blood glucose level (p- value 0.000) and effect of Diabetes Mellitus on vision (p-value 0.003).Duration of diabetes Mellitus was significantly associated with increased awareness of knowledge about Ocular complications of Diabetes (p-value 0.001), DR (p-value 0.001), screening (p-value 0.002), and fundus examination (p-value 0.002). 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.

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