Assessment of quality of life of the patients with diabetic retinopathy using National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire (VFQ-25).

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Diabetes affects most of the organs causing macrovascular and microvascular complications. Diabetic retinopathy (DR) results from the prolonged uncontrolled hyperglycemia which causes impairment of vision. Quality of life (QoL) of patients with DR is affected due to vision loss. National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ-25) is the questionnaire used to study the effect of DR on QoL. OBJECTIVES: To assess the QoL of the patients with DR. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study enrolled 149 (male-104 and female 45) patients with DR. The previous translated and validated version of NEI-VFQ-25 questionnaire was used in the study. RESULTS: Cronbach alpha for internal consistency was between 0.6 and 0.8. The male patient showed significantly higher (p<0.05) QoL scores (60.73±1.63) as compared to the female patients (53.15±2.84). Hypertensive patients showed poor QoL as compared to non-hypertensive patients. The patients with a history of diabetes for 16-30 yrs. showed better QoL as compared to other patients. CONCLUSION: DR affects the QoL of life of patients. Routine assessment of QoL using NEI-VFQ-25 questionnaire would be useful for physicians and health care team.