A Study on the knowledge, Attitudes and Practice of Diabetic Retinopathy among Patients

Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease which has many disabling complications, including ocular complications. Many diabetic patients don’t have regular fallow up due to the lack of awareness about the necessity of periodic ophthalmic examinations. As a result, detection is delayed and diabetic ophthalmic complications especially diabetic retinopathy increase. this study aimed to assess the level of knowledge, attitude, and practice of diabetic patients in Yazd province regarding ocular complications of diabetes. This cross-sectional study was carried out on the 20-83 year-old population of Yazd. A randomized sampling was conducted on type 2 diabetic patients who referred to Yazd diabetes research
center. Data were collected using the questionnaire completed by interviewing and analyzed by SPSS version 20. Chi square and Mann-Whitney tests were used for data analysis and the significance level was set at P< 0.05. A total number of 732 eligible patients were enrolled in the study; 47 percent of participants were male and 53 percent were female. Knowledge and practice of patients with diabetes with regard to diabetic retinopathy had a significant relationship with gender (P = 0.001) and age group (P = 0.01, P = 0.05). The participants' practice was also significantly associated with the education level (P =0.01). The knowledge and practice of the patients also showed a significant relationship with the duration of diabetes (P = 0.01) and their income (p <0.05). Furthermore, concomitant diseases of hypertension, heart disease, and high fat in diabetic patients showed a significant relationship with patients' practice (P = 0.01). Since diabetic retinopathy may occur in the first five years of the disease, patients' knowledge and attitudes should be improved in the early stages by health care system. Therefore, strengthening this system will amplify the relationship between health system and patients, as well as increase the knowledge, attitude, and practice of diabetic patients.