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Visual impairment and associated risk factors in patients with diabetes mellitus in Tavush and Armavir provinces of Armenia

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Abstract

Background

Visual impairment (VI) and blindness remain serious public health problems among patients with diabetes. This study assessed the prevalence of VI and its associated risk factors in individuals with diabetes mellitus (DM) in Armenia.

Methods

This cross-sectional study recruited 1287 people with DM. All participants underwent comprehensive ophthalmic examination and responded to a structured questionnaire on sociodemographic and health characteristics, health-seeking behavior, and ocular health. The presence of eye diseases and VI was defined based on the International Classification of Diseases-11. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were used to address the study objectives.

Results

The mean age of participants was 61.5 (SD = 9.6) ranging from 19.4 to 99.8 years. The mean duration of diabetes was 7.4 years. The majority of participants (70.5%) were women. The prevalence of VI and blindness was 12.1% and 0.9%, respectively. Overall, 22.4% of participants had diabetic retinopathy. In the adjusted analysis, advanced age (OR = 1.08; 95%CI: 1.06–1.11), higher education (OR = 0.37; 95%CI: 0.19–0.74), diabetes duration (OR = 1.05; 95%CI: 1.02–1.08), the presence of diabetic retinopathy (OR = 3.61; 95%CI: 2.38–5.46), age-related macular degeneration (OR = 1.88; 95%CI: 1.15–3.05), cataract (OR = 2.45; 95%CI: 1.66–3.63), and glaucoma (OR = 2.32; 95%CI: 1.25–4.30) were associated with VI.

Conclusion

The findings highlight the importance and need for regular eye screening and diabetes prevention programs in the country. Continuous educational programs on diabetes self-management among patients with DM can reduce complications of diabetes including vision loss due to diabetes.

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Acknowledgements

We are thankful to the study participants for their support during the implementation of the study.

Funding

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Turpanjian School of Public Health, Garo Meghrigian Institute for Preventive Ophthalmology, American University of Armenia, 40 Marshal Baghramian Ave., 0019, Yerevan, Armenia

    Aida Giloyan

  2. Turpanjian School of Public Health, American University of Armenia, 40 Marshal Baghramian Ave, 0019, Yerevan, Armenia

    Diana Muradyan & Vahe Khachadourian

Authors
  1. Aida Giloyan
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  2. Diana Muradyan
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  3. Vahe Khachadourian
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by [AG], [DM], [VK]. The first draft of the manuscript was written by [AG] and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Aida Giloyan.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Ethical approval

Approval was obtained from the ethics committee of The Institutional Review Board of the American University of Armenia. The procedures used in this study adhere to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Informed verbal consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Giloyan, A., Muradyan, D. & Khachadourian, V. Visual impairment and associated risk factors in patients with diabetes mellitus in Tavush and Armavir provinces of Armenia. Int Ophthalmol 42, 47–56 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-021-01998-5

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