Impact of pharmacist educational intervention on predictors of diabetic retinopathy among diabetic patients at two tertiary care hospitals in Malaysia

As diabetes mellitus is a lifestyle associated disease thus for achieving rigorous glycemic con-trol, not only the physician adherence and compliance to the given guideline are important, but patient adherence to medication regimens also plays a vital role. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of pharma-cist-led educational intervention on diabetic retinopathy predictors in diabetic patients. Diabetic patients were randomly selected and divided into two groups from both tertiary care hospitals. Two hundred patients were randomly selected in the control group and similarly in the intervention group. Both groups received the same standard medication from the hospitals, but the intervention group patients, together with the traditional medicines, also received a separate counseling session from pharmacists. The study continued for one year, and four follow up visits for both groups. A pre-validated data collection form was used to measure the improvement in diabetic retinopathy predictors among diabetic patients. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24 was used to analyze the data. The average HbA1c reduced up to 2.43% in the control group and 3.78% in the intervention group from the baseline data in one year. A statistically significant (p = < 0.05) difference in HbA1c among both study groups at every follow-up. The univariate and multivariate regression analysis showed a statistically significant difference (p = <0.001) in diabetic retinopathy predictors among both study groups in one year. Statistically significant reduction in the sign and symptoms of diabetic retinopathy was observed in the intervention group at the end of one year. The progression of diabetic retinopathy was significantly reduced in the pharmacist intervention group.