Abstract
PURPOSE: The study aimed to assess the proportion of visual impairment and associated factors among diabetic patients at Debre Berhan Referral Hospital (DBRH). METHODS: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was carried out from April 27 to May 19, 2017. All adult diabetic patients attending DBRH during the study period were included in the study. A pretested, structured questionnaire and clinical examinations were used for data collection. The collected data were entered into Epi Info 7 and exported to the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20 for analysis. The descriptive analysis was summarized by frequency, percent, and summary statistics. Association between visual impairment and independent variables was determined via bivariable and multivariable binary logistic regressions. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to determine the strength of association. Hosmer and Lemeshow goodness of fit was used to check for model fitness. RESULTS: A total of 388 study subjects with a 92% response rate took part in the study. The prevalence of visual impairment was 29.38% (95% CI: 24.83%-33.93%). Age >56 years (AOR = 5.24, 95% CI: 1.37-20.04), physical inactivity (AOR = 2.34, 95% CI: 1.33-4.14), presence of visual symptoms (AOR = 4.48, 95% CI: 2.35-8.57), lower body mass index (AOR = 6.23, 95% CI: 1.87-20.68), and diabetic retinopathy (AOR = 5.12, 95% CI: 1.91-13.70) had a statistically significant association with visual impairment. CONCLUSION: A high proportion of diabetic patients had visual impairment. Independent variables older age, physical inactivity, presence of visual symptoms, lower body mass index, and diabetic retinopathy had a positive statistically significant association with visual impairment.