Knowledge, beliefs, and practices regarding diabetic eye disease among patients with diabetes at the lions diabetic centre, university of calabar teaching hospital, Nigeria

Objective: To assess the knowledge, beliefs, and practices among participants with diabetes mellitus (DM) receiving care at a tertiary government hospital in Calabar, Nigeria, on DM and diabetic eye disease. Materials and Methods: A hospital-based, cross-sectional study where serial recruitment of consenting participants was performed. Ethical approval was obtained from the hospitals’ ethics committee. Data were obtained using a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire. Data were collated and analyzed using the SPSS for Windows (version 20; SPSS Inc., Chicago, Illinois, USA). Categorical variables were presented as frequencies and continuous variables as means. Results: Of the 123 study participants, majority 87 (70.7%) were females and 36 (29.3%) were males. Forty-three (35%) had a duration of DM greater than 10 years. A total of 54 (44%) had good knowledge of DM. One hundred and six (86.2%) had the knowledge that regular eye checkups for a diabetic person was important, and 92 (69.9%) knew that DM could affect vision, whereas 84 (68.3%) believed that DM frequently affects vision. Eye-health-seeking behavior was good in 83 (67.5%) of participants, and an ophthalmologist was the medical personnel sought for by most participants. Conclusion: The knowledge of diabetic eye disease as a potential cause of vision loss among study participants was good. However, the knowledge on DM was poor in majority of study participants. The beliefs and practice toward eye-health were also good. Sustained health education including eye health education will most likely improve the knowledge base of DM and encourage early presentation for eye evaluation in patients with DM.