Visual functions and vision-related quality of life in Type 2 diabetes patients treated with different hypoglycemic drugs

Abstract ObjectivesTo evaluate the visual functions and vision-related quality of life in T2DM patients undergoing different hypoglycemic therapeutics and determine how these different treatments impact on patients’ visual performances as well as the changing pattern of visual performances as T2DM progressed. MethodsWe performed an online survey among 193 T2DM patients. The survey was consisted of three parts, each documenting patients’ demographic feature, severity and therapeutics of T2DM, and patients’ visual functions. The third part was assessed with National Eye Institute Visual Functioning questionnaire-25 (NEI VFQ-25). All data was analyzed by independent t-test, chi-square test and non-linear regression model.ResultsPatients undergoing either oral, injected or combined hypoglycemic therapy demonstrated similar visual performances after demographic features and other related clinical information were matched, except for the oral group had significant higher scores than the other groups in terms of social functioning. When T2DM patients on oral and injected monotherapy were compared, it turned out that oral treatment was associated with higher scores in almost all sub-scales and slower deterioration in visual functions as age grew, diabetic duration lengthened (especially after 15 years) and BCVA worsened. Comparison regarding dual therapy indicated favorable result in those taking two kinds of oral drugs rather than one oral plus one injected in terms of social functioning, color vision and total score, while triple therapy comparisons showed no significant results. When triple and dual oral therapy were compared, we suggested that the former were valid in optimizing visual performances.ConclusionsOral hypoglycemic therapeutics were generally associated with better visual functions, higher vision-related quality of life and slower deterioration of visual performances in T2DM patients while injected therapy-treated T2DM patients were more prone to have gone through more significant visual decline. The disparities in visual performances were more significant in those taking monotherapy and less significant when more hypoglycemic drugs were added, however, the adding on of hypoglycemic drugs were proved to be useful in enhancing visual performances.