Ocular complications and associated factors among traditional eye medicines users attending the eye clinic at Mulago national referral hospital, Uganda.

Abstract

Over the past decades there has been a phenomenal increase in the use of Traditional Eye medicines (TEM) worldwide and there are several factors that compel patients to use TEM. We conducted a study to determine the types of traditional eye medicine, ocular complications, and associated factors among traditional eye medicine users at the Mulago National Referral Hospital (MNRH) eye clinic. A hospital-based cross-sectional study among TEM users at MNRH eye clinic from June to August 2021. Epi Data version 4.2 and STATA version 15 used for analysis. A modified Poisson regression with robust standard errors was used to determine the associated factors. Overall, 182 TEM users (males:53.3%) were enrolled, with a mean age of 36±21SD years. The most frequently used type of TEM were plant products (47.8%). 70% of TEM users had ocular complications, the most frequent manifestation was conjunctivitis (53.9%). Ocular complications were significantly associated with living in the urban areas (p< 0.006) and participants who reported ease and availability of TEM (p < 0.001). Plant-based products were the most frequently used types of TEM, a large proportion of the TEM users were found with sight-threatening ocular complications.