Awareness and practices regarding eye diseases among patients with diabetes: a cross sectional analysis of the CoDiab-VD cohort

Abstract

BackgroundThe increasing prevalence of diabetes is leading to a rise of eye diseases, augmenting the risk of sight-threatening complications. The aim of this study was to evaluate prevalence, awareness and practices regarding eye diseases among patients with diabetes in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland.MethodsA cohort of 323 patients with diabetes completed a self-administered questionnaire assessing prevalence, awareness and practices regarding eye diseases, besides health status and quality of care measures. Descriptive analyses followed by exploratory subgroup analyses and linear regressions were performed to investigate factors associated with awareness and practices.ResultsWhile diabetic retinopathy was reported by 40.9% of patients with type 1 diabetes and 9.8% of patients with type 2 diabetes, 35.8% and 12.6% of all participants reported cataract and glaucoma, respectively. Awareness that diabetes could damage the eyes was reported by almost all participants; the majority was also aware of the importance of glycemic control and regular eye examination in preventing eye diseases. In contrast, only 70.5% of participants underwent an eye examination by an ophthalmologist during the past year. Eye examination was associated with better patients’ awareness. Barriers mentioned by patients revealed a lack of knowledge about screening guidelines, in particular regarding the preventive nature of eye examinations.ConclusionsDespite high levels of awareness regarding diabetic eye diseases, a significant proportion of patients with diabetes did not report annual eye examination. Both healthcare strategic efforts targeting the promotion of regular eye examination and initiatives aiming at improving knowledge of screening guidelines should be encouraged.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov on 9th July 2013, identifier NCT01902043 (retrospectively registered).

Assessment of Knowledge and Practice of Various Eye Diseases in Sulaimani: A Descriptive Study

“…Concerning the relationship of knowledge and practice with various eye disease of respondents, the study results show significant relation between knowledge level and glaucoma, blurred vision/distant, dry eye and itchy/watery eye. Similarly relation between participant knowledge and cataract was revealed in other studies [11,36]. Furthermore, practice of our participants toward sunlight sensitivity, eye infection, blurred vision/distant and dry eye was also statistically significant.…”

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“…In this study, most of the patients, 332 (86.9%), we're aware that diabetes can affect the eye which is higher as compared to studies done in Jeddah where 82% were aware, [11] in India 58.7% were aware, (12) in Bagalkot (13) 45.7% were aware and 37.1% were aware in the study done in Tamil Nadu (14). This awareness was low as compared to studies from Jordan (98.3%) (15), Switzerland (96%) (16), and Oman (93%) (17). This difference could be due to the variety of socioeconomic factors and geographic areas.…”

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