Public awareness of common eye diseases in South India

Abstract

Awareness of the common eye diseases helps in the prevention of blindness by early intervention. This study was conducted to assess the awareness of the common eye diseases, such as cataract, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma among the people in south India. A semi-structured questionnaire was developed to assess the awareness of the cataract, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma among the public in Chennai. The demographic details like age, gender and education were collected along with the awareness of the disease and questions regarding the disease were asked to the people who were aware of the disease. A total of 185 participants were included in the study, and it consisted of 108(58%) males and 77(42%) females. The age group participated in this study was 15-65 years, and 177 participants were literate. Awareness of cataract, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma were (81%, 49% and 34% respectively). The most familiar source of knowledge was friends, family and relatives. The awareness of cataract is better than compared to diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. Hence, the awareness of these common eye diseases has to be improved more and current trend of improvement in the awareness has to continue through various awareness programs which helps in reducing the preventable blindness by early detection and treatment.