Volume 25, Issue 118, December 2021

Barriers influencing diabetic adults’ demand for diabetic retinopathy screening during the covid-19 pandemic in Taif city; patients’ perspectives

Abdulhamid Alghamdi¹, Nada Saed Alrubaie², Nada Ahmad Almalki³, Khaled Abdulrahman Almalki³, Mahmood Abdullah A Eid⁴, Rana Eidhah Almalki⁵, Khames T Alzahrani⁶

¹Ophthalmology department, medical college, Taif University, Saudi Arabia
²Paediatric resident, children hospital, Taif city, Saudi Arabia
³Medical intern, governmental hospitals, Taif city, Saudi Arabia
⁴Intern (House Officer), University of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
⁵General practitioner, King Abdulaziz Specialist Hospital, Taif city, Saudi Arabia
⁶BDS, PGD Endo, Ministry of Health, Taif, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

Background: Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is a complication of uncontrolled Diabetic mellitus (DM). It affects the vision-related quality of life significantly, and it is one of the leading causes of blindness. Various socio-cultural elements affect eye health-seeking behavior and barriers to access DR screening services (DRSS) by people with DM (PwDM). However, studies assessing barriers to DR screening among people with diabetes in Saudi Arabia are limited. The principal aim of this study was to evaluate the barriers to DR screening among Saudi diabetics during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This was a cross-sectional, survey-based study conducted in Taif, Saudi Arabia, from October 2020 to September 2021. Data was collected using a predesigned self-administered online questionnaire. Then data were analyzed by the SPSS program, version 25 at a level of significance of 0.05. Results: A total of 1042 adults with diabetes were enrolled in the study. About 39% of them had diabetes duration of fewer than five years. Around 3.8% of the participants agreed that poor glycemic control enhances diabetic retinopathy progression, 18.9% agreed that diabetic individuals might have advanced diabetic retinopathy despite having good vision, 7.5% agreed that comorbidities enhance diabetic retinopathy progression and 3.9% agreed that DR can be detected early might save vision. Conclusion: Finally, the study found that patients had an appropriate degree of awareness on DR; however, several knowledge areas should be improved. Furthermore, our findings demonstrated that COVID-19 caused a delay in patient care, resulting in poorer outcomes in patients with DR.

Keywords: COVID-19, Diabetic Retinopathy, DR screening, barriers, outcomes, Saudi Arabia

Medical Science, 2021, 25(118), 3121-3131

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