DIABETIC RETINOPATHY AND ITS SCREENING: KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICE OF PRIMARY HEALTH CARE PHYSICIANS WORKING AT DIFFERENT PRIMARY HEALTH CARE CENTERS OF ALAHSA DISTRICT OF SAUDI ARABIA
Authors: Alabbad Zahra Mohammed , Alhaiz Aqil Saleh , Alhabdan Jawad Mohammad , Alhelal Ali Sadiq , Alhassan Mohammed Yousef , Albagshi Abdulsattar Mohammad , Alobaidan Mohammed Husain , Alkhalaf Zahra Ibrahim 
Published: May 2024

Background: Diabetic retinopathy, a leading cause of blindness among the working class of people is fast emerging as one of the major cause of
overall blindness. Study suggests an overall global prevalence of diabetic retinopathy to be 22.27%. Diabetic Retinopathy, the most common cause
of blindness among the working age group, is preventable which can be prevented by early diagnosis and proper treatment. The key to reducing
blindness due to retinopathy is early detection and treatment. The success of screening process to detect diabetic retinopathy especially at the
primary level depends on the level of knowledge and pattern of practice of the primary health care physicians on diabetic retinopathy and its
screening. The role of the physicians working at the primary health care centers is vital for early detection of diabetic retinopathy. The present study
was a primary health care centers' based study in which the knowledge and practice of all the primary health care physicians was assessed
regarding the knowledge and practice towards diabetic retinopathy and its screening. Materials and Methods: It was a cross sectional survey
conducted at the Primary Health Centers of Al Ahsa region of Saudi Arabia. The study population was all the physicians working at different
Ministry of Health operated Primary Health Care centers of Al Ahsa region of Saudi Arabia. The study sample was calculated by Epi info software
assuming that 40% of the primary health care physicians will have the poor knowledge about diabetic retinopathy and its screening.To achieve this
at the 95% of condence interval with an acceptable error of 5%, at least 350 physicians were needed .The sampling was done by random sampling
from the list of all the physicians working at the Primary Health care centers of Al Ahsa district. The selected participants were sent an e mail and
were requested to ll the google form with the questionnaires to answer. The data were collected on a pretested, pre designed questionnaires which
were made available to the participants on google form (online). The collected data were cleared, coded, entered and analyzed by the SPSS version
26. Descriptive statistics were presented using counts, proportions (%), mean ± standard deviation whenever appropriate. The association of
demographic characteristics of the participants with the knowledge and practice pattern towards diabetic retinopathy and its screening were
performed using chi square test. .Ap-value cut off point of 0.05 at 95% CI was used to determine statistical signicance. The correct answer of the
questionnaire was awarded 1 mark while the incorrect answer with 0 mark. The mean of the marks was the cutoff point demarcating the good
knowledge with poor knowledge. The score above the mean was considered as good knowledge. Results:Atotal of 293 subjects participated in this
study. The mean age of the participants was 35.94 years.The majority of the participants were female (55.3%). Eighty seven percent (N=255) were
married while 11.3% were unmarried and 1.7% were divorced. Almost forty ve percent of the participants (44.7%) were family physician
(resident) followed by those who were resident physician (33.8%) and those who were specialist in family medicine (13.7%).. More than forty
three percent (43.3%) of the participants had family history of diabetes. The mean knowledge score of the participants was 3.95. Almost sixty
percent of the participants (59.7%) were having good knowledge about the diabetic retinopathy. The level of good knowledge was signicantly
higher among the female participants than those of males. As the qualication of the participants increased ,Higher percentage of post graduate
participants had good knowledge about the diabetic retinopathy as compared to those with bachelor degree and diploma holder (74.19% vs.56.42%
vs.54.94%, P =0.045). Those participants who had family history of diabetes were hsaving better knowledge about diabetic retinopathy as
compared to thopse who did not have (59.05% vs.54.21, P=0.032).