AWARENESS AND PRACTICES REGARDING PREVENTION OF DIABETIC RETINOPATHY AMONG PATIENTS WITH TYPE II DIABETES: CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY

Background: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the major cause of vision loss in adults with diabetes mellitus (DM) and the most common micro vascular diabetic complication. Strict glycaemic control and early detection and appropriate management are key to halting disease progression. Aim: investigate the level of awareness and practices regarding the prevention of diabetic retinopathy among patients with type II diabetes. Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed on 394 patients with type II diabetes who agreed to participate and met the inclusion criteria at medical clinics in a private hospital in Jeddah city. The data was collected by using modified interview questionnaires. Results: There was a highly significant relationship between patients’ level of awareness and practice regarding prevention of diabetic retinopathy with p value0.001. Moreover, there is a highly significant positive correlation found between patients’ awareness and practice level with sociodemographic characteristics mainly in items of age, level of education, glycemic control level, and the effect of visual acuity with p value0.001. However, there is a highly significant correlation between the patient practice with the items of gender and family history of diabetes with p value0.001. While there was no significant correlation between diabetic patients` awareness and sociodemographic characteristics in relation to the gender, duration of DM, and family history of DM with a p-value (0.505, 0.341, 0.044) respectively. And there is no significant correlation between diabetic patients` practice scores and duration of DM with a p-value = (0.714). Conclusions: Type II diabetic patients had a good level of awareness and poor level of practice regarding the prevention of diabetic retinopathy. The factors such as age, level of education, glycemic control level, and the effect of visual acuity affecting the patients’ awareness and practice while the patient practice is affected with gender and family history of diabetes. Recommendations: Create an educational platform to increase awareness and practices of patients with type II diabetes regarding the prevention of retinopathy.