Awareness of diabetic retinopathy in Egyptian diabetic patients attending Kasr Al-Ainy outpatient clinic: A cross-sectional study

Background: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a sight-threatening microvascular complication of diabetes. Objectives: The objectives of this study were to assess the awareness of diabetic patients about the screening for diabetic retinopathy and to detect the presence of different stages of retinopathy among a sample of patients attending the Diabetic clinic in Kasr Al-Ainy hospital. Methods: This study is a cross sectional study in which 100 adult diabetic patients were interviewed and visual acuity, retinopathy status, and presence of other ocular diseases were assessed. Results: It was found that there is general awareness of diabetic retinopathy among the majority of the study participants; however there is little awareness as regards the importance of screening. The main barrier for performing fundus examination was lack of awareness of its importance. Around half of the participants had performed one fundus examination after diagnosis of diabetes. Ophthalmic examination revealed that 47% of the study participants had no DR at the time of the examination, 22% had non-proliferative retinopathy and 31% had proliferative retinopathy. Only 16% of the participants had diabetic maculopathy. Conclusion: Awareness creation is crucial for decreasing diabetic eye complications.