Knowledge, attitude, and practice of diabetic retinopathy among Physicians in northwestern Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the leading cause of preventable blindness in the productive population that poses a considerable global public health burden.

Objective: The objective of this study is to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of DR screening among physicians in Northwestern Nigeria.

Materials and Methods: Survey responses were obtained from 105 physicians in 4 tertiary hospitals using a Likert scale questionnaire. The internal consistency of the questionnaire was calculated using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Principal  component analysis was used for data reduction and grouping with the varimax rotation method, and the factors were extracted based on an Eigenvalue >1.

Results: Most of the respondents (78.8%) were aware of the most effective method of delaying the onset of DR and frequency of eye examination (94.1%). Lack of ophthalmoscopes (70.6%) and dilating eye drops (50.6%) form important barriers to performing a good eye examination.

Conclusion: DR screening among physicians practicing in Northwestern Nigeria was suboptimal, which prompts the need for improved training of physicians managing persons with diabetes on eye examination in a bid to strengthen DR screening and reduce the burden of visual impairment in our environment.

Keywords: Attitude, diabetic retinopathy, knowledge, ophthalmologist, practice