Abstract
Purpose::
To determine the impact of diabetic macular edema on the quality of life (QOL) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.
Design::
Prospective, consecutive, noncomparative case series.
Methods::
An observational study evaluated the quality of vision and vision-specific QOL using the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ-25). Mean VFQ-25 subscale scores in type 2 diabetic study patients were compared to mean VFQ-25 subscale score in groups of patients with varying degrees of age-related macular degeneration (ARMD), glaucoma, cataracts, and reference populations.
Results::
Fifty eight patients completed the NEI VFQ-25. The mean age of the study population was 65.9 years. The quality of vision categorical score (72.4 ± 3.3; averaged mean subscale scores of general vision, difficulty with distance tasks, difficulty with near tasks, peripheral vision, and color vision) in the study population was significantly worse compared to the reference population (92.6 ± 3.9) but not significantly different then categorical scores reported in patients with ARMD (65 ± 2.4), glaucoma (79.2 ± 2.5), and cataracts (76.6 ± 2.1). However, the mean vision-specific QOL categorical score (68.5 ± 4.1; averaged mean subscale scores of dependency on others, role difficulties, mental health, social function limitations, driving, and ocular pain) in the study population was significantly lower compared to patients with glaucoma (85 ± 2.4), cataracts (79.5 ± 2.3), and a reference population (93.3 ± 1.01), but similar to patients with ARMD (65 ± 2.7).
Main Outcome Measures::
NEI VFQ-25 scores.
Conclusions::
Type 2 diabetic patients with macular edema have a comparable quality of vision to patients with ARMD, glaucoma, and cataracts. However, the QOL due to visual impairment is significantly worse in this population compared to patients with glaucoma and cataracts, and similar to patients with ARMD.
Keywords: diabetic retinopathy • edema • clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: biostatistics/epidemiology methodology