Use of Eye Care Service and Associated Factors Among Adult Diabetic Patients Attending at Diabetic Clinics in Two Referral Hospitals, Northeast Ethiopia

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the proportion of use of eye care service and associated factors among adult diabetic patients attending diabetic clinics in two referral hospitals, Northeast Ethiopia, 2020. Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was carried out with a sample size of 546 at Dessie and Debre-Birhan Comprehensive Specialized Hospitals from July 06 to August 14/2020. Systematic random sampling with a sampling fraction of 2 was employed to select study participants at outpatient departments in diabetic clinics. A pre-tested structured questionnaire, checklist, and visual acuity chart were used to collect the data. The collected data were entered into EPI-data version 4.4 and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25. Binary logistic regression was fitted to identify the possible factors associated with the outcome variable, and the strength of association was expressed using an adjusted odds ratio at a 95% confidence interval. Variables with p-values of less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: A total of 531 adult patients with diabetes participated with a response rate of 97.3%. In this study, the proportion of use of eye care service within the past 1 year was 31.5% (95% CI: 27.5, 35.4). Age from 40 to 64 years (AOR=2.86, 95% CI; 1.43,5.70) and >65 years (AOR=3.15, 95% CI: 1.32,7.50), duration of diabetes 6-10 years (AOR=2.15, 95% CI: 1.26, 3.69) and >11 years (AOR=2.93, 95% CI: 1.51, 5.69), presence of visual symptoms (AOR=3.12, 95% CI: 1.56, 6.18), good attitude on the need of a regular eye checkup (AOR=2.87, 95% CI: 1.68, 4.94), and good knowledge about diabetic ocular complication (AOR=2.29, 95% CI: 1.33, 3.94) were positively associated with the use of eye care service. Conclusion:The proportion of use of eye care service among adult diabetic patients was low. The use of eye care service was significantly and independently associated with older age, longer duration of diabetes, presence of visual symptoms, good attitude on the need of a regular eye checkup, and good knowledge about diabetic ocular complication. We recommend that the patients with diabetes should be taught about diabetic ocular complications and the importance of regular eye check-ups by health professionals to increase utilization of eye care services by patients with diabetes.

Eye care service utilization and associated factors among diabetic patients in Africa: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…The included articles were published between 2007 and 2022. From the included articles 3 studies are from Ethiopia [ [34] , [35] , [36] ], 2 are from Nigeria [ 23 , 37 ] and the remaining are from South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and Tanzania [ [38] , [39] , [40] , [41] ]. All the studies published in peer-reviewed journals ( Table 1 ).…”

Knowledge about diabetic retinopathy, Eye checkup services utilization and associated factors among adult diabetic patients at Public hospitals of Southeastern Ethiopia, 2022

“…In addition, studies conducted in African countries (e.g. a study in South Africa (Akuffo et al, 2020), and Ethiopia (Ahmed et al, 2021) reported that the proportion of eye checkup services utilization in adult diabetics was 49% and found 31.5%, respectively. Ethiopia remains one of the top ve African diabetic countries (IDF, 2017), and the national prevalence of DR among adult diabetics was reported to be 34.1% (MERSHA et al, 2021).…”

Adherence to Annual Fundus Exams among Chinese Population with Diagnosed Diabetes

“…Thus, joint guidelines set by authority organizations recommend annual screenings for patients with diabetes [6,7]. However, the conditions of the normative management of regular fundus examinations among patients with diabetes are not satisfactory in many countries [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15].…”

“…Researchers have reported low adherence rates to annual fundus exams among the population with diagnosed diabetes to date [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Multiple factors have been considered to impacts on the poorer adherence to regular screenings in the population with diabetes, including racial disparities, coexistent diseases, educational level and insurance coverage [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16].…”

“…Researchers have reported low adherence rates to annual fundus exams among the population with diagnosed diabetes to date [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Multiple factors have been considered to impacts on the poorer adherence to regular screenings in the population with diabetes, including racial disparities, coexistent diseases, educational level and insurance coverage [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. Population-based data also indicate that a significant proportion of patients with diabetes receiving regular public medical services are suffering from undiagnosed ocular diseases [17,18], which reflects the insufficient acknowledgement and attention attached to the eye-care of patients with diabetes from the whole medical system.…”