Abstract
Introduction: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a major health concern in diabetic patients. It is considered as a silent developing disease that eventually can lead to blindness. Therefore, it is important for diabetic population to be aware of the importance of early detection and timely intervention to avoid visual loss.
Purpose: To assess the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) toward DR and retinal examination among diabetic population in Al-Hasa region.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire based study was conducted from August 2016 to April 2017. A questionnaire which was prepared based on KAP was distributed among Saudi diabetic patients in Al-Hasa region of Saudi Arabia. The researchers have done the questionnaire on 479 individuals of diabetic patients. Data analysis was performed using SPSS program version 24.
Results: The minimum age of the participants was 21 and the maximum age was 65. The number of male participants is 276 (57.6%) and females 203 (42.4%). The mean KAP score was 7.86 +/- 3.8. 224 (46.8%) of the participants in the study were found to have inadequate knowledge about eye complications of diabetes and DR. In addition to that, 101 (21.1%) are not restricting to the guidelines of screening. The assessment of attitude and practice also showed poor results. More than half of the participants, 263 (54.9%), are not following the screening guidelines of DR. Only 232 (48.4%) know the recommended duration interval of eye screening.
Conclusion: DR is a common but unrecognized problem among diabetic population in Al-Hasa region. There is a lack of awareness among Saudi diabetic population about this problem. There is a need for educational intervention programs to increase the knowledge level about this disease as well as the necessity of screening and periodic follow-ups.