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
