Prevalence of diabetic macular edema and risk factors among diabetic patients at the University of Gondar Tertiary Eye Care and Training Center, North West Ethiopia

BACKGROUNDDiabetic macular edema (DME) is the most common cause of visual impairment in patients with diabetes mellitus. The prevalence of DME globally is around 6.8 % and in Ethiopia range from 5.7% to 11%.Different factors are associated with DME including poor glycemic control, longer duration, hypertension, dyslipidemia OBJECTIVETo determine the prevalence and associated factors of diabetic macular edema among diabetic patients attending University of Gondar (UOG) hospital, tertiary eye care and training center, NW Ethiopia METHODSA hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted from March 2021 to October 2021. Socio-demographic, clinical and laboratory data of patients was gathered. The collected data was entered into epi-data 4.6 version, exported to SPSS version 20 and analyzed. RESULTSA total of 165 diabetic patients were enrolled with mean age of 54.71 {+/-}13.66 years, 50.9% male, 85.5% urban dwellers, 79.9% type 2 DM, 49.7% on oral hypoglycemic agents and the mean duration of diabetes was 7.93 years. Cataract was the commonest ocular morbidity and 42% of patients had at least mild vision impairment. The overall prevalence of DME was 17% and 5.5% of patients had clinically significant macular edema (CSME). The presence of proteinuria was 8.04 times more likely to have DME. CONCLUSIONThe prevalence of DME among our patients was high. The presence of proteinuria was significantly associated with DME. Screening of diabetic patients for sight threatening retinopathy early and appropriate treatment is recommended.