Awareness and knowledge of glaucoma among primary care givers in a developing country

Abstract

Background: Glaucoma is the leading cause of untreatable blindness throughout the world, and it is commoner in the black race; therefore, primary health care givers should have some knowledge of glaucoma. The aim of this study is to determine the knowledge of primary health care givers about glaucoma in Sagamu Local Government area of Ogun State. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study of primary care givers in Sagamu, Ogun Sate was carried out between March and May 2010. A structured, self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information on the awareness and knowledge of glaucoma from all registered primary health care givers working in Sagamu, Ogun State. The data was analyzed using SPSS 15. Results: One hundred and eighty-one workers responded (97.8%). There were 124 females (68.5%). Age range was 25 to 64 years, mean 41.2 ΁ 8.7 years. There were 68 (37.5%) physicians, 95 (52.5%) nurses, and 18 (10%) other workers. Ninety-seven percent of the workers were aware of glaucoma. Seventy-seven (42.5%) had good knowledge of glaucoma, while 104 (57.5%) had poor knowledge. Physicians were seven times more likely to know about glaucoma than nurses, while nurses were 4 times more likely to know about glaucoma than other community health workers, and these were statistically significant P < .0001. Younger age group between 25 and 34 years was 2.3 times likely to know of glaucoma than middle-aged. Conclusions: Though awareness of glaucoma was high, knowledge about glaucoma was, however, low among the study population. There is a need to sensitize all cadres of health staff, particularly the community health workers about glaucoma.