Glaucoma awareness ; where do we stand ?
Keywords:
Glaucoma, blindness, awareness, knowledgeAbstract
Background:
Glaucoma is group of ocular disorders resulting in damage to optic nerve and loss of visual field. If not managed at the required stage it may lead to irreversible form of blindness.
Purpose : To assess the awareness and knowledge of glaucoma in rural verses urban patients visiting eye-care center attached to an academic institute of Central India
Materials and Methods: Observational cross-sectional study was conducted for a period of two months. By random sampling method, 300 subjects each from urban and rural settings were selected out of 1486 consecutive adults aged ≥ 40 years. Pre-validated, two separate brief structured questionnaires (urban and rural participants ) were used to assess the subject’s glaucoma awareness and knowledge. All known primary/ secondary glaucoma or congenital/ juvenile glaucoma participants were excluded. The demographic data, socio-economic information, medical and ophthalmic history and examination was recorded.
Results: Out of 600 participants , 34% glaucoma awareness was recorded in urban participants while 21% awareness in rural participants. The difference in the proportion was statistically significant, as indicated by p-value of 0.0005 (p < 0.05). As regards age, significant association (p=0.006) was found across age distribution and levels of glaucoma awareness. Education level and socio-economic background also showed statistically significant association with glaucoma awareness.
Conclusion: The present study revealed that the level of awareness and knowledge about glaucoma in our study population was very low. Major contributing factors for low glaucoma awareness were background of population cohort, education and socio-economic background. There is a need to educate masses for glaucoma to prevent blindness.
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