Knowledge, Attitude and Associated Risk Factors regarding Diabetic Retinopathy among Diabetic Patients

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a leading cause of visual disability and blindness in people with diabetes. Most of the patients are diagnosed to have diabetic retinopathy even before they are clinically diagnosed with diabetes. The objectives are to assess the knowledge, attitude, to identify the associated risk factors, to determine the relationship between knowledge and attitude, to determine the association between knowledge, attitude and selected demographic and clinical variables regarding diabetic retinopathy. A descriptive design was used. A convenience sampling method was used. The study was done in the outpatient unit in the Medicine department of Christian medical college, Vellore. The tools such as knowledge questionnaire, attitude scales and check list for risk factors prepared by the investigator were used as instruments. Adequate knowledge was found among 5.5% and 62.12% of the participants had adequate attitude regarding diabetic retinopathy. Identified risk factors are HbA1C values more than 7% (58.2%), hypertension (61.5%), those who were on T. Metformin (92.7%), and male gender (58.5%). There is a positive correlation between knowledge and attitude, as the knowledge increases there is an increase in the attitude level also. Significant association found between, occupation, family income, diagnosis of illness, current medications and attitude at p=0.001. Majority of the participants had inadequate knowledge regarding diabetic retinopathy. Nurses need to educate these patients and identify those with risk to develop retinopathy for early identification of retinopathy.