Assessing Adherence to Annual Dilated Eye Exam Recommendations in Patients with Diabetes and Erectile Dysfunction

Ethan Greenberg, Lisa A Hark*, Christine Hubert, Brianna Kenney, Courtney B Reamer, Julia A Haller, Robert Bailey and Irvin Hirsch

Aims: This prospective, observational, pilot study assessed adherence rates of annual dilated fundus examinations (DFEs) among patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and erectile dysfunction (ED) in a university-based practice and identified predictors associated with DFE adherence.

Methods: A total of 56 men who had been diagnosed with ED and type I or type II DM were enrolled in the study and given a 24-question survey assessing their knowledge of DFE recommendations and ocular history. Patients were classified as adherent (n=39) or non-adherent (n=17) to the annual DFE. The differences in demographics, baseline characteristics, and survey responses between the adherent and non-adherent groups were analyzed using Fisher’s exact test for the comparison of proportions and Student’s t-test for the comparison of means.

Results: The adherent group was more likely than the non-adherent group to be seeing an eye doctor (p=0.03). The most common cited reasons for not seeing an ophthalmologist were “Too busy” (n=5) and “Unable to pay the co-pay” (n=4).

Conclusions: Patients with ED and DM showed a greater adherence to annual DFE recommendations than those in the reported non-ED population. Minimizing the cost barrier and educating about diabetes complications may increase adherence in obtaining a DFE.

Keywords: Dilated fundus examination; Erectile dysfunction; Diabetes mellitus; Diabetic retinopathy; Eye examination

Published on: Dec 17, 2015 Pages: 67-71

Full Text PDF Full Text HTML DOI: 10.17352/2455-1414.000025
CrossMark Publons Harvard Library HOLLIS Search IT Semantic Scholar Get Citation Base Search Scilit OAI-PMH ResearchGate Academic Microsoft GrowKudos Universite de Paris UW Libraries SJSU King Library SJSU King Library NUS Library McGill DET KGL BIBLiOTEK JCU Discovery Universidad De Lima WorldCat VU on WorldCat