Prevalence of Diabetic Retinopathy and Associated Factors among Adult Diabetes Patients Attending at Debre Tabor General Hospital, Northwest, Ethiopia, 2020.

Abstract

Abstract Background: Diabetic retinopathy is one of the most common microvascular complication of diabetes mellitus. It remains one of the leading cause of preventable blindness among working age adults around the world. There is paucity of evidence on the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy and its associated factors in Ethiopia particularly, in the study area. Objective: To assess the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy and its associated factors among adult diabetes at Debre Tabor General Hospital, Northwest, Ethiopia. Methodology: An institution based cross sectional study was conducted on 306 diabetes with systematic random sampling technique. Semi-structured questioner, document review and physical examination were applied to collect the data. Data was entered into Epidemiological Information 7 and exported to Statistical Package for Social Science Version 20 for analysis. Variables with p-value < 0.2 in binary logistic regression, were entered into a multivariable logistic regression model. Variables with p-values of less than 0.05 were considered as statistically significant. Adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was used to determine the strength of association. The final result of the analysis was presented by table. Result: A total of 306 participants completed the study with a response rate of 97.7%. The median duration of diabetes was 4 years. The prevalence of diabetic retinopathy was 31.4% (95%Confidence Interval: 26.1%-36.3%). Low family monthly income (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) =7.4, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 2.4-22.9), longer duration of diabetes (AOR=27, 95% CI: 11.5-63.6) and poor glycemic control (AOR=3.2, 95%CI: 1.5-6.7) were significantly associated with diabetic retinopathy. Conclusion and Recommendation: The prevalence of diabetic retinopathy was high. Longer duration of diabetes, poor glycemic control and low family monthly income were positively associated with diabetic retinopathy. Early screening of diabetic retinopathy in adult diabetes patients was recommended. Key words: Diabetic retinopathy, Prevalence, Ethiopia