Population-based assessment of awareness of diabetes and diabetes related eye diseases in rural areas in Telangana, India – implications for eye health promotion

ABSTRACT

Clinical relevance

Understanding the awareness level of diabetes and diabetes-related eye diseases will help in developing better eye health education programmes and improve health-seeking behaviour in the community.

Background

Diabetes and diabetes related eye diseases are increasing in numbers both in urban and rural areas in India. There are limited data on awareness of diabetes and diabetes-related eye disease in rural communities of India. This study reports on awareness of diabetes and diabetes-related eye diseases in people aged ≥40 years from two rural districts of Telangana, India.

Methods

A structured questionnaire was used to determine the awareness of diabetes and diabetes-related eye diseases among participants aged ≥40 years in the Khammam and Warangal districts of Telangana, India. Social investigators visited the participant’s households and conducted the interviews. A positive response to a question on having heard about diabetes was considered as ‘awareness’. For those aware, follow-up questions were asked about the effect of diabetes on vision, frequency of eye examination and source of information. A positive response on a question that diabetes could cause loss of vision was considered as awareness of diabetic eye disease.

Results

A total of 3273 participants were interviewed. Among them, 56.2% (n = 1840) were women, 60.6% (n = 1985) had no formal education, and 50.2% (n = 1645) were from the Khammam district. The mean age of the participants was 55.3 years (standard deviation: 11.7 years). Awareness of diabetes was 52.5% (n = 1719). Among them, 1056 participants (61.4%) were aware that diabetes could affect vision.

Conclusion

Only half of the participants were aware of diabetes and of this substantial proportion of individuals was unaware of potential vision loss due to diabetes. Improving awareness about diabetes and its impact on vision is recommended to prevent potential vision loss in this population.

KEYWORDS:

• Diabetes mellitus
• diabetes-related eye disease
• diabetic retinopathy
• India
• population based assessment
• Telangana

Acknowlegements

The authors thank the volunteers for their participation in the study and acknowledge Mr. U. Vijay Kumar (administrator) for providing logistic support for the study. Ratnakar Yellapragada is acknowledged for support in data management. The authors also thank Satya Brahmanandam Modepalli, Thirupathi Reddy Kumbham, Rajesh Challa for their assistance in data collection. Mr. Abhinav Sekar is acknowledged for language inputs on the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Hyderabad Eye Research Foundation, India, and the Lions Clubs International Foundation (LCIF), Sight First Research grant [SF 1943/UND].