AWARENESS OF DIABETIC RETINOPATHY AMONG ADULT POPULATION IN PEERPANCHAL REGION OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR, INDIA

Purpose: To study the awareness of diabetes and its multisystem involvement like diabetic retinopathy among population attending medicine opd in government medical college and associated hospital,Rajouri Jammu and Kashmir India Methods: A cross-sectional study over a 2-year period was conducted among 6000 adults who underwent OPD medical treatment at government medical college and associated hospital in Rajouri, Jammu and Kashmir, India. All patients were randomly tested for blood sugar and a questionnaire designed for them. Data obtained were statistically analyzed using SPSS version software 15.0. (P <0.05) was considered a significant value. Results: In our study, we enrolled 6000 participants between the ages of 56.4 +/- 10 years and male: female ratio of 3: 5. Based on the questionnaire, we found


ISSN: 2320-5407
Int. J. Adv. Res. 10(03), 563-567 564 The prevalence of diabetes is far greater in developed countries than in developing countries. India's potential of epidemic is of over 62 million peoplecurrently diagnosed with diabetes (4,5) India is currently facing an uncertain future regarding the potential burden of diabetes in the country. Diabetes retinopathy is a leading cause of vision loss in working-age adults. (6,7) A recent study reported that the burden of visual impairment due to diabetes retinopathy is estimated at 3.2 million worldwide. It is reported that about 2% of people become blind after 15 years of diabetes and 10% develop severe visual impairment. (8) Major risk factors for the development of diabetic retinopathy are duration of diabetes and the severity of hyperglycemia. (9,10) Diabetes Mellitus is widely known as a 21st-century public health problem. Many educational programs are designed to prevent and control the disease prematurely but fail to achieve the desired results of increasing awareness of diabetes and its complications in developing countries. (11.12) Indeed, a few studies have consistently shown that diabetes awareness among the majority of people appears to be very low. (13) Given the scarcity of information on the problems associated with diabetes, especially in the low-income economy, it was important for us to be aware of diabetes in adults who visit the rural clinic in our hospital.

Material And Methods:-
A cross-sectional study was conducted in government medical college Rajouri Jammu and Kashmir over a period of 3 years. Among 6889 patients, 530 refused to participate in the study and 359 subjects did not attend follow-up on test results. Therefore 6000 adults were included as study participants All patients were randomly tested for blood sugar after informed consent. Based on blood sugar levels, they were further divided into three groups.
Group 1 were subjects with normal blood sugar levels. Group 2 were known cases of diabetes with high or normal blood sugar levels. And Group 3 subjects had recently been diagnosed with diabetes.
After receiving written informed consent from the study participants, they were interviewed with questioner designed

Result:-
The study included a total of 6000 participants of which 2256 were male and 3744 were female. The mean age of the enrolled patients was 56.4 +/-10 years (Table 1). Fifty-two percent of all patients were in the 5th class of economic welfare according to the modified B.J Prasad category ( Table 2).
All registered participants were randomly tested for blood sugar. Based on the test results, it was found that 2209 patients were non-diabetic (GROUP 1), 1845 patients who were diabetic (GROUP 2) and 1937 had recently been diagnosed with diabetes (GROUP3). All groups were included in a personalized questionnaire (Table 4)   Comparative analysis of the level of awareness about diabetic eye disease among males and females was done . The percentage of awareness was more in males in comparison to females and it was statistically significant. Even though the females out numbered the males but the awareness levels were very low accounting to 14.18% only. Comparative analysis of awareness was also done in between the three groups. We found that among the three groups,92.8% of non diabetics were particularly unaware about diabetic eye disease followed by 86.4% of the newly diagnosed cases. 41.47% of the diabetics were also unaware about complications of diabetes in eyes. The values were statistically significant Increasing awareness of diabetic retinopathy in people with type 2 diabetes is considered an important factor in early diagnosis and control of diabetic retinopathy.We conducted a survey using an 8-point questionnaire among 6,000 diabetic patients who went to our inpatient department over a period of 3 years. We tested awareness of diabetes eye problems and asked patients how to raise awareness.In our study, we noted that although patients were aware of diabetes, a very high percentage of studies were unaware of diabetes problems. A shockingly high percentage of participants lacked knowledge about diabetic retinopathy, eye tests for diabetes and other visually impaired visual cues that threaten diabetes.
A study conducted by Rani PK et al in Tamil Nadu (15) and Bagalkot reported similar data that only 37.1% were knowledgeable and 45.7% were aware of diabetic eye disease. (16) But our results were surprisingly low compared to studies in Vellore ( 71.9%). (17) Nepal (63.3%) (18) and Jordan (98.3%) (19). In contrast, studies conducted in rural Karnataka by Manu As et al reported that more than half of patients, 88 (58.7%), were diagnosed with diabetes that could affect the eye. (20) We also reported that most patients will have an eye examination only if vision is affected (93.3%). Studies on eye involvement in sugar believed that people would not have eye problems if their blood sugar levels were controlled (14%). In addition, in terms of gender distribution, men outnumbered women in terms of awareness of diabetes and its eye-related problems.
The most common obstacle to eye examinations is the lack of knowledge (94%) on the importance of eye examinations, followed by a lack of access to eye care and time constraints. As no similar studies have been conducted previously in our case, this provides insight into the behavioral needs of diabetics as to one of the major causes of blindness in this nation.
Lack of knowledge about DR is considered a major health problem that can interfere with proper management and prevent potential visual impairment. There seems to be a global trend of lack of information about DM in people. This is likely to have a major impact on India, which is estimated to be home to a quarter of the world's blind. Awareness of diabetes eye problems can play an important role in encouraging people to seek timely eye care.
This emphasizes the need to implement health education strategies for the disease and the problem that should be applied to the lower, higher, and higher levels of health care. Emphasis on awareness of diabetes management and complications should be placed not only on patients with diabetes but also among family members of patients as they are able to motivate patients about it and help seek early care.
Our study highlights the most common barrier to lack of knowledge about the importance of eye examinations, so awareness should be disseminated to patients about regular eye examinations as this can be a major problem, and medical treatment should encourage patients to get tested. due to retinopathy.
Diabetes education tool can be designed to empower patients with diabetes; focusing on self-regulation, as well as potential problems with uncontrolled blood sugar. Consultation sessions with family members of patients presenting or referred to a diabetic retinopathy clinic will help to educate themselves about diabetes.

Conclusion:-
As per our study results , an alarming number of participants lacked knowledge about diabetic retinopathy . There is a significant lack in proper information providing sources, especially in rural areas. This emphasizes the need for increasing awareness and information providing modalities about diabetes , its complications and treatment options . We need more awareness camps , eye screening centers for early referral , prevention and diagnosis of visionthreatening complications of diabetes. 567

Financial disclosure :
This study received no financial support .