Evaluation of Awareness and Attitudes towards Common Eye Diseases among the General Population of Northwestern Saudi Arabia
Journal Title: The Egyptian Journal of Hospital Medicine - Year 2018, Vol 70, Issue 7
Abstract
<strong>Background: </strong>assessing of the population’s awareness concerning eye diseases would provide a fundamental basis and acts as a future reference to executing such health promotion initiatives. <strong>Objective: </strong>this study aimed to evaluate the public awareness and attitudes towards common eye diseases in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. <strong>Materials and Methods: </strong>this cross-sectional study was conducted in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia during the period from June 2017 to December 2017. A convenient sample of 397 participants of adults aged above 18 years old was chosen by a stratified method. A self-administered online survey included multiple choice and true-false questions was used to obtain information about respondent’s awareness regarding common eye diseases including cataract, refractive errors, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. <strong>Results: </strong>77.6% of participants were females, 41.4% were between 18 and 25 years, 52% of the respondents had sufficient knowledge regarding common eye problems. The most frequent sources of information were the internet (46.7%), relatives (38.5%) and mass media (35.4%). The participant's knowledge ranged from 66.3%for the cataract to 36.3% for refractive errors. Only educational level and job were significantly associated with knowledge about refractive errors. The majority of the respondents (75%) reported visiting ophthalmologists only when they have complaints and just 10% of them visited ophthalmologists regularly. When they had eye problems, almost two-thirds visited the ophthalmologist directly whereas 9% and 7.4% of them did nothing or depended on home therapy, respectively. <strong>Conclusion</strong>: awareness and knowledge of adult population in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia is suboptimal. Health education campaigns are needed to improve their knowledge and protect them them from adverse complications of these diseases. <strong> </strong>
Authors and Affiliations
Eman Helal
Keywords
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- DOI 10.12816/0044550
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