A study of awareness of ocular complications of diabetes among students

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Diabetes mellitus has become a major public health problem throughout the world. 1 The prevalence of diabetes mellitus is increasing worldwide and diabetic retinopathy has become one of the one of the leading causes of blindness in the world. 2-4 The prevalence of diabetes among the young is on the rise. Awareness about the ocular complications of diabetes mellitus will help the patients to seek medical care before the onset of ocular problems by subjecting themselves to regular screening. Even after the onset of retinopathy regular screening and early intervention can limit vision threatening complications. The objective was to study the awareness of ocular complications due to diabetes mellitus among students. METHODS A questionnaire based study was conducted among 430 students (non-medical). The questions were drafted in a way that it was simple and easy to understand. Majority of the questions were closed ended questions which required a yes or no for an answer. The questions tested their awareness about diabetes mellitus and also about the potential ocular complications of the disease (Appendix 1). Only students who were not affected by diabetes mellitus were included in the study. Any student who was a diabetic was excluded from the study. ABSTRACT Background: Diabetes mellitus has become a major public health problem throughout the world. The aim was to study the awareness of ocular complications due to diabetes mellitus among students. Methods: A questionnaire based study was conducted among 430 students (non-medical). The questions tested their awareness about diabetes mellitus and also about the potential ocular complications of the disease. Results: Out of 430 students 73.02% (314/430) have heard about diabetes mellitus but they did not know that it can affect the eye and can lead to blindness. They were unaware that regular eye checkup is important in diabetes mellitus. 18.83% (81/430) were aware about the disease and its potential to cause vision threatening complications. 8.13% (35/430) were not aware about diabetes mellitus. Overall only 18.83% had some basic knowledge about diabetes and its complications. Conclusions: The level of awareness about ocular complications due to diabetes mellitus is low among students. Therefore steps should be taken to increase the awareness about diabetes and inculcate some basic knowledge about its potential complications especially vision threatening diabetic retinopathy. It should be strongly emphasized that periodic eye checkup is important to prevent needless blindness and visual dysfunction.