Health behaviors of people with retinitis pigmentosa in the Republic of Korea

Purpose: To investigate the health behaviors of people with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) in the Republic of Korea. Methods: An online questionnaire was used to survey members of the Korean Retinitis Pigmentosa Society (KRPS), over 3 months from December 2010 to February 2011. Controls were selected from participants of the 4th Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and were matched with people with RP using the propensity score method to optimize comparative analysis. A semi-structured interview was also conducted with five members of the KRPS to identify potential reasons for physical inactivity and unhealthy diet and to develop effective interventions. Results: A total of 194 eligible people with RP responded to the online survey, and 187 individuals were matched with the control population by propensity score matching. RP subjects reported a lower rate of current smoking and greater use of preventive healthcare services. However, people with RP were more physically inactive (50.8% vs 27.3%, p<0.001) and consumed more fast food (69.5% vs 58.3%, p=0.024) than the control population. Conclusion: Physical inactivity and fast food consumption were more frequently reported in people with RP than the general population. Efforts to understand the possible reasons and develop interventions to improve these health behaviors are warranted.