title: Awareness of eye complications and prevalence of retinopathy in the first visit to eye clinic among type 2 diabetic patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the awareness of eye complications and the prevalence of retinopathy, in the first visit to eye clinic, among type 2 diabetic patients attending a tertiary medical centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
  
  
  METHODS
  An investigator-administered questionnaire was given to 137 patients with diabetes undergoing first time eye screening in the eye clinic. This was followed by a detailed fundus examination by a senior ophthalmologist to assess for presence of retinopathy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Almost 86% of respondents were aware of diabetic eye complications, especially in patients who had achieved tertiary educational level (96.3%). The majority of the patients (78.8%) were referred by their physicians and only 20.4% came on their own initiative. Many of the patients (43.8%) did not know how frequent they should go for an eye check-up and 72.3% did not know what treatments were available. Lack of understanding on diabetic eye diseases (68.6%) was the main barrier for most patients for not coming for eye screening earlier. Despite a high level of awareness, only 21.9% had recorded HbA1c level of <6.5% while 31.4% were under the erroneous assumption of having a good blood sugar control. A total of 29.2% had diabetic retinopathy in their first visit eye testing.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the present study, 29.2% of type 2 diabetic patients had retinopathy in their first time eye testing. Although the awareness of diabetic eye complications was high among first time eye screening patients, the appropriate eye care-seeking behavior was comparatively less and should be rectified to prevent the rise of this sight threatening eye disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, Kuala, Lumpur, Malaysia.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tajunisah
authors.forename: Ps
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Lt
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rokiah
authors.forename: Sc
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Reddy