Dr.PRASANNA SHAH
Purpose: To assess awareness about Diabetes Mellitus(DM) and Diabetic Retinopathy(DR)among diabetic patients at ophthalmologic clinic in rural South India. Method:It is prospective observational study.185 adult diabetic patients attending the eye OPD were examined and pretested questionnaire(MaximumScore-10)was asked. Results:57%were male,69%were on regular treatment,only30% had regular follow up with physician. 41% knew DM affects eye and other body organs. 20.5% were aware about regular eye checkup and 17% had fundoscopy before. 98% people were unaware that strict control of DM can maintain good vision. Sources of education for DM and DR were physician(21%),ophthalmologist(12.9%),print media(1.1%),TV/internet(0.5%),and friends /relatives(9.7%).Only high education correlated significantly (p=0.0001) with awareness of DM and DR.Conclusion:Education/ motivation from physician&ophthalmologist for Eye check up and improvement in literacy prevent blindness from DR specially in rural area.
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