Mahmood Ali, Wajid Ali Khan, Ayisha Kausar, Farah Akhtar.
Awareness of diabetic retinopathy among the known diabetic patients at a tertiary care eye hospital.
Al-Shifa J Ophthalmol Jan ;7(1):25-31.

Objectives: To assess the awareness of diabetic retinopathy (DR) among the known diabetics at Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital (ASTEH) Rawalpindi. Study Design: A cross sectional observational study. Subjects and Methods: Study was conducted on 200 known diabetics from 1st April 2007 to 30th September 2007. Level of knowledge about DR was assessed on the basis of a face-to-face interview and graded according to the number of correct responses. All the information was recorded on proformas and data analysis was done using SPSS 13.0. Results: There were 85 (42.5%) male and 115 (57.5%) female participants with a mean age of 56.0 (± 9.740) years while mean duration of diabetes was 8.468 (± 6.034) years. Knowledge of 72 (36%) patients was found satisfactory. Gender (p=0.000), socioeconomic status (p=0.000), education (p=0.001) and source of information (p=0.000) were significantly associated with awareness. Ophthalmologists were the major source of information for the patients. Conclusion: Awareness about DR is low in our diabetic patients. More emphasis should be given to health education of diabetics along with treatment.

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