RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIABETIC RETINOPATHY AND ITS SEVERITY AND HEALTH-RELATED QUALITY OF LIFE USING NATIONAL EYE INSTITUTE VISUAL FUNCTION QUESTIONNAIRE

Abstract Introduction: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a serious microvascular complication of diabetes and is one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide. The aim of this study was to assess the impact of DR and its severity on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in patients with diabetes mellitus in the Diabetic Research Center of Yazd. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, patients with diabetes mellitus who were referred to Diabetic Research Center of Yazd, Iran, between Jan. 2015 and Jan. 2016 were studied. Adult patients with the diagnosis of DR by an expert ophthalmologist were included. HRQOL was measured by the 25 item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ-25). The severity of DR in eyes was graded into mild, moderate, severe, and proliferative. SPSS version 20 was used via Student t-test analyses to determine the relationship between severity of DR and HRQOL. Results: Two hundred nine patients (76 males/133 females) with an average age of 59.72 years were studied. The frequency of severity of DR was 26.2 (%) for mild, 22.8 (%) for moderate, 19.4 (%) for severe, and 31.6 (%) for proliferative. More severe DR was associated with worse HRQOL scores on all of the NEI VFQ-25 subscales (p<0.05). Individuals with insulin treatment and macular edema showed a modest decline in HRQOL. The domains with the most significant impact were for vision-related daily activities, dependency and mental health: 51.9% of patients also underwent laser therapy. Descriptive results obtained from the questionnaires quality of life in patients with diabetic retinopathy were scored 0 as the worst and 100 as the best status. Conclusion: Greater severity of DR was associated with lower general HRQOL and vision-specific HRQOL. Proliferative DR had the most substantial decrease in quality of life compared with those with less severe DR