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The international diabetes federation has forecast that about 642 million persons worldwide will be battling “Diabetes mellitus” (DM) by 2040, considering that the last decades have shown an increase in the number of individuals with Diabetes mellitus peaking at over 400 million people around the globe. More than 50 percent of these cases will suffer complications, resulting in diabetes retinopathy (DR). Therefore, most of the world's population are at risk of blindness in the next 20 years. The main category of the world population that will be affected most is composed of the global working class, thereby threatening the health state of the ablest and willing to work all around the world (Aguiree et al., 2013). According to the WHO, 15-17 percent of the cases of blindness worldwide are caused by diabetic retinopathy (World Health Organization, 2006). The prevalence and severity of DR are at 34.6 percent of any blindness; hence, it necessitates quick detection and evaluation for the patients to mitigate visual impairment risk (Shi et al, 2015).
In Africa, Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common multifactorial health problem with contributing factors include hereditary, nutrition and lifestyle issues and often results in severe complications.
Diabetes mellitus (DM) becomes diabetes retinopathy (DR) when not quickly diagnosed and treated, which is a complicated stage of Diabetes mellitus which causes damage to the eye resulting in blindness as a result of the blockade in the blood vessels (Sabanayagam et al., 2019). In dealing with DR, telemedicine has been introduced in vision treatment which is regarded as teleophthalmology. Hence, technology has gradually taken a significant place in the health sector, just like business, finance, communication, and academics (Rathi et al., 2017). However, in Nigeria, the healthcare sector is yet to experience the same technological advancement level in other countries over time. Considering the rise in pressure on physical facilities in Nigerian health facilities, the need for remote vision healthcare provision through technology has been identified as a need in this sector. Some state and municipality governments have begun to provide technical facilities that can improve the healthcare sector. The Cross-River State government is one of the leading administrations that had engaged in providing such advanced healthcare (Edi et al, 2017). The government established this screening center to be able to provide early detection of DR in the community.
The attitude of patients who are to benefit from the teleophthalmology facilities will affect the government and doctors' ability to fight diabetic retinopathy (Das et al, 2015). However, the level of receptiveness of the patients to teleophthalmology in Nigeria needs investigation; otherwise, DR will remain prevalent in the country. Previous studies have shown that Nigerian doctors are not recommending teleophthalmology to their patients because of their limited knowledge about the technology. Apart from this perspective, the reason patient does not utilize teleophthalmology facilities in Nigeria is not included in the literature. (Obotu, 2019).
This study will focus on understanding the factors that affect the attitude of diabetic retinopathy patients by examining several prevalent factors identified in previous studies. A conceptual model is built upon the prevalent variable to examine DR patient's attitudes in the Cross-River State. This article will show the relationship between the patient's attitudes as outcomes and the variables that account for the attitude of DR patients (independent variables) in the Cross-rivers state in Nigeria.