ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Clin. Diabetes Healthc.
Sec. Diabetes Multiorgan Complications
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcdhc.2025.1527143
Factors associated with knowledge of diabetic retinopathy among adults with diabetes on follow-up care at public hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: an institution-based cross-sectional study
Provisionally accepted
- 1College of Medical and Health Sciences, Wollega University, Nekemte, Oromia Region, Ethiopia
- 2College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- 3College of Natural Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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Background:Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the leading cause of vision loss among adults with diabetes aged between 20 to 70 years. Lack of knowledge about Diabetic retinopathy is one of the reasons for treatment delays, which can lead to the development of sight-threatening DR. The aim of this study is to assess knowledge of diabetic retinopathy and associated factor among adults with diabetes mellitus at public hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted at five public hospitals in Addis Ababa from 27 February to 27 March 2023.Systematic random sampling was used to select 421 diabetes patients. Data was collected using a pretested interviewer-administered questionnaire using Kobo Collect version 2022.4.4. The data was then exported to SPSS version 27 for cleaning and analysis. Multiple linear regression analysis with a p-value < 0.05 and corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to identify factors associated with knowledge of DR.The respondents' mean percentage score for DR knowledge was 61.42% ± 28.75%.Longer years lived with diabetes (B = 0.157, p = 0.001) and older age (B = 0.022, p = 0.044) were associated with better DR knowledge score, whereas having no formal education (β = -0.166, p = 0.001) and secondary school education (β = -0.165, p = 0.001) compared to the other groups had lower DR knowledge score.Longer years lived with diabetes ,older age and higher educational level were factors associated with better knowledge of DR. Therefore, health professionals should target newly diagnosed,relatively younger patients and less educated DM patients when providing diabetes self management education related to DR.
Keywords: knowledge, Diabetic Retinopathy, Diabetes Mellitus, Adult patient, Education
Received: 12 Nov 2024; Accepted: 21 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Regasa, Aga and Gela. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Feven Dinsa Regasa, College of Medical and Health Sciences, Wollega University, Nekemte, Oromia Region, Ethiopia
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