Research Details

We work with Anglia Ruskin University, UK to reduce diabetic blindness in Nepal

Professor Tirtha Lal Upadhyaya, a lead endocrinologist at our Diabetes,

Thyroid and Endocrine Care Centre (DTECC) in Pokhara, who also heads the

Department of Medicine at Gandaki Medical College and

Teaching Hospital is working with Professor Shahina Pardhan and

Dr Raju Sapkota from the Vision and Eye Research Institute (VERI),

Anglia Ruskin University (UK), to reduce the risk of blindness in diabetic patients.

Research from VERI shows that Nepalese patients with diabetes have high levels of eye problems from diabetes.

To reduce blindness from diabetes, one should have his/her eyes (retina) photographed every year.

Prof. Dr. Tirtha Lal Upadhyaya

Professor Shahina Pardhan, Director, VERI

Dr. Raju Sapkota, Senior Research Fellow, VERI

Impact

Guided by VERI’s research, we launched a new system in 2018 to ensure that all diabetes patients have their eyes photographed immediately after diagnosis and at least once a year thereafter. Between 2018 and 2024, 39,673 out of 44,081 patients (90%) have been tested for eye changes, including 15,725 patients since 2021. If these patients had not had their eyes photographed, they would have been at a much greater (60-90%) risk of blindness. Before we started this program in 2018, only about 28% of patients would have their eyes tested for diabetic eye disease. This means we can help patients save their sight.

Diabetes training video program in Nepali language

We have been using the culturally and linguistically tailored training programs developed by VERI to train patients at DTECC and people living in rural areas who have poor access to healthcare services so that they are better informed about how to self-care for their diabetes and diabetic retinopathy. The program was validated in Nepali patients using a randomised controlled trial, which has been published in a peer-reviewed journal (Frontiers in Endocrinology)

Link to video material (in Nepali): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SSCntF0BvA

We play this video programme in our hospital waiting area while patients wait for their appointments.

Community Workshop

Since 2024, delivery of these training programs has been expanded to more than 2462 targeted

individuals living across 50 remote villages of Gandaki Province, and we are expanding these to

additional villages.

Community workshops in action

Together, our partnership with VERI has made significant strides in improving diabetes management

and awareness of diabetes and diabetic retinopathy in the Gandaki province of Nepal. Professor

Upadhyaya is also a Visiting Fellow of VERI.

अध्ययनमा भाग लिने

We are doing a number of research projects on diabetes and reducing diabetes-related blindness- please get in touch if you would like to take part.

मधुमेह सम्बन्धि जानकारीमुलक भिडियोहरुको प्रभावकारिताको बारेमा हामीले बिभिन्न अध्ययन गरिरहेका छौ। यदि तपाईं भाग लिन चाहनुहुन्छ भने कृपया हामीलाई सम्पर्क गर्नु होला ।

फोन: 061-527769, ईमेल : [email protected]

Joint peer-reviewed

(i) Pardhan, S., Upadhyaya, T., Smith, L., Sharma, T., Tuladhar, S., Adhikari, B., Kidd, J., & Sapkota, R. (2023). Individual patient-centered target-driven intervention to improve clinical outcomes of diabetes, health literacy, and self-care practices in Nepal: A randomized controlled trial. Frontiers in Endocrinology, 14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2023.1076253

(ii). Sapkota, R., van der Linde, I., Grunwald, I. Q., Upadhyaya, T., Lamichhane, N. and Pardhan S. (2023). The impact of stimulus configuration on visual short-term memory decline in normal aging and mild cognitive impairment, Brain Behav. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.3113

(iii) Pardhan, S., Islam, M. S., López-Sánchez, G. F., Upadhyaya, T., Sapkota, R. P., 2021. Self-isolation negatively impacts self-management of diabetes during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Diabetology & Metabolic Syndrome, 13 (1), pp. 123. doi: 10.1186/s13098-021-00734-4.

(iv) Sapkota, R. P., Upadhyaya, T., Gurung, G., Parker, M., Raman, R., Pardhan, S., 2018. Need to improve awareness and treatment compliance in high-risk patients for diabetic complications in Nepal. BMJ Open Diabetes Research and Care, 6(1). doi: 10.1136/bmjdrc-2018-000525.

(v). Sapkota, R., Van Der Linde, I., Lamichhane, N., Upadhyaya, T., Pardhan, S. (2017). Patients with mild cognitive impairment show lower visual short-term memory performance in feature binding tasks. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders Extra, 7(1), pp. 74-86. doi: 10.1159/000455831

Joint peer-reviewed conference abstracts:

(i) Pardhan S, Upadhyaya T, Biswas A, Raman R, Sapkota R. Poor control of diabetes is associated with sight threatening retinopathy in patients attending tertiary care eye clinics in Nepal and India. Invest. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2019;60(9):1085.

(ii) Sapkota R, Upadhyaya T, Gurung G, Biswas A, Durgasri J, Raman R, Pardhan S, (2017). Clinical and non-clinical factors predicting retinopathy severity in patients attending three different diabetic eye clinics in India and Nepal. The Association of Research in Visio and Ophthalmology, Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 58, 70.