Incidence and Predictors of Diabetic Retinopathy among Newly Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetic Patients at Chronic Follow-Up Clinic of University of Gondar Specialized Hospital: A Retrospective Follow-Up Study

Background: Diabetic retinopathy is a complication of type 2 diabetes resulting from long-term accumulated damage to retinal blood vessels and one of the life-threatening complications and is the most common cause of acquired blindness in adults and it affects 93 million people worldwide. DR is the principal cause of blindness in adults of working age and responsible for a worsening in quality of life despite preventable and treatable causes. To date, most of the epidemiological research on DR in Ethiopia has been limited to prevalence estimates from cross-sectional studies. This study determined the incidence of retinopathy and its predictors among type 2 diabetic patients Methods: Hospital-based retrospective follow-up study was conducted among 420 adults with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetic patients from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2019. Data were extracted from medical records and entered into Epi info version7.2.2.6and exported to Stata 14 for analysis. Bivariable and multivariable Cox proportional hazard model were used to identify predictors of diabetic retinopathy. In a multivariable analysis variable having a p-value < 0.05 in the Cox; PH model was considered as predictors of diabetic retinopathy. Results: Overall, 19.5% (95% CI; 16.2-23.8) of the study population developed diabetic retinopathy, with a median survival time of 30.4 months. Congestive heart failure [AHR: 2.53 (95% CI; 1.49, 4.29)], chronic kidney disease [AHR: 5.02(95% CI; 2.73, 9.26)], hypertension [AHR: 2.07(95% CI; 1.17, 2.89)], and HBA1c [AHR: 10.5 (95% CI; 5.6, 19.6)] were found to be predictors of diabetic retinopathy.