Assessment of awareness and perception regarding eye donation among selected patients attending field practise area of a tertiary care hospital in Mangalore: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: India has a large number of blind population of which major proportion of blindness can be corrected. One of the major cause in developing countries is corneal ulceration. Vision restoration for a sizeable proportion of corneal blind is possible through corneal transplant. Data from Eye Bank Association, India suggests that the annual corneal procurement for donation is 1/10th of annual requirement. Raising the level of public awareness on eye donation is one of the important step in increasing corneal procurement. The objectives of the study were to evaluate persons who know about eye donation and to assess the awareness and perception regarding eye donation among those who know about eye donation.Methods: A cross-sectional study on 400 patients aged more than 18 years visiting the health centers affiliated to department of Community Medicine, KSHEMA, Deralakatte using convenient sampling during June-July 2017 using pre-validated questionnaire.Results: Out of 400, only 44% (176) knew about eye donation. Awareness and perception regarding eye donation was studied in those 44% (176). 28.4% (50, N=176) thought that blood group is a barrier for eye donation. Only 56.8% (100, N=176) knew the contact place for eye donation. Only 24.4% (43, N=176) had pledged to donate eyes. age, education and information from TV, family members, health professionals and pamphlets had significant association with willingness to donate (p<0.05).Conclusions: Though many strategies are in place, awareness regarding eye donation is less. Hence, there is a need for development of newer strategies to increase eye donation.