Evaluation of Awareness and Attitudes towards Common Eye Diseases among the General Population of Northwestern Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: Assessing of the population’s awareness concerning eye diseases would provide a fundamental basis and acts as a future reference to execute health promotion initiatives. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the public awareness and attitudes towards common eye diseases in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Materials and Methods: 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. Results: 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. Conclusion: Awareness and knowledge of adult population in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia is suboptimal. Health education campaigns are needed to improve their knowledge and protect them from adverse complications of these diseases.