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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Ann Natl Acad Med Sci 2023; 59(04): 202-208
DOI: 10.1055/s-0043-1772215
Original Article

Glaucoma the Silent Thief of Vision! A Study to Assess Current Trends on Awareness and Knowledge About Glaucoma

Amit Kumar Jain 
1   Department of Ophthalmology, Kanti Devi Medical College Hospital and Research Center, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, India
,
Neha Singh
1   Department of Ophthalmology, Kanti Devi Medical College Hospital and Research Center, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, India
,
Naveen Kumar Singh
2   Department of Anaesthesia, Kanti Devi Medical College Hospital and Research Center, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, India
,
Praveen Kumar Singh 
1   Department of Ophthalmology, Kanti Devi Medical College Hospital and Research Center, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, India
,
Suman Rajpoot
1   Department of Ophthalmology, Kanti Devi Medical College Hospital and Research Center, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, India
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Abstract

Introduction Worldwide nearly 70 million populations are affected by glaucoma, a leading cause of irreversible blindness. Awareness and knowledge about glaucoma is the key to early diagnosis and effective management to prevent debilitating blindness. In India, the literature has shown that the level of awareness ranges from 0.32 to 13.5%, much lower than developed countries. Previous studies found higher levels of education and socioeconomic status along with positive family history of ocular diseases were directly related to improved levels of awareness and knowledge about glaucoma. Considering the improvement in literacy standards, socioeconomic status, and better utilization of medical care in the past few years, we aimed to assess the current trends in levels of awareness and knowledge about glaucoma in the North Indian population.

Methodology This prospective cross-sectional questionnaire-based study included 1,536 participants enrolled from the outpatient department of a tertiary care teaching hospital. Data for the study were collected from the responses given by participants from two sets of questionnaires adopted and validated from previous similar work on awareness of glaucoma. Statistical analysis was done by applying the chi-square test and Fisher exact probability test using IBM SPSS Statistics version 20.

Results In total, 7.74% of study participants were aware of glaucoma and the newspaper was the most common source of (57.9%) information. A significant correlation (p < 0.05) was found for male sex, education status, and past medical history between aware and not aware participants; however, non-significant (p = 0.182) correlation was seen for upper and lower socioeconomic status among the same group participants. Only 16% of aware participants had a good knowledge of glaucoma.

Conclusion In current trends, the state of awareness and knowledge on glaucoma in the Indian population was poor compared to that in the Western world, although the levels of education status and the presence of past medical history had significant correlation among aware and not aware population, but socioeconomic status had no significant correlation. Electronic media and health camps were among the least common source of information; hence, improvised awareness programs and opportunistic screening of glaucoma is the answer to control this silent thief of vision called glaucoma.

Keywords

Glaucoma - awareness - knowledge - literacy - north India

Authors' Contribution

A.K.J. did the review of the literature to formulate the study design, performed statistical analysis, and also wrote the manuscript. N.S. and N.K.S. prepared study questionnaire, master excel sheet of data, and also helped in statistical analysis. P.K.S. and S.R. collected the participant's data and filled it in the annexure form.




Publication History

Article published online:
01 November 2023

© 2023. National Academy of Medical Sciences (India). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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