Study on Awareness and Knowledge Regarding Eye Diseases among University Students of Bangladesh

Abstract

Eye conditions have emerged as potential threats to the status of sight in many low & middle income and industrialized country populations. The main three eye conditions are Diabetic Retinopathy, Glaucoma and Cataract. The increase of diabetes has caused Diabetic retinopathy to the priority list while glaucoma remains public health agenda due to its treatment difficulties. In Bangladesh Cataract and Night Blindness are two major eye conditions to look at due to lack of proper education and awareness. The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge of common eye conditions namely Cataract, Glaucoma, Diabetic Retinopathy and Night blindness in our country. A total of 572 subjects aged between 19 to 29 years age, who were students of different university participated in the study representing the young generation of the nation. They responded to a structured questionnaires and having heard of the disease in question was defined as ‘awareness’ and having some understandings of the eye disease was defined as ‘knowledge’. The awareness of the Cataract across the entire population was 84%, Night Blindness 94%, Diabetic retinopathy 62%, and Glaucoma 47.5%. The principle source of knowledge was from print and electronic media (average 35%) and friends, family and other relatives (average 28%). The respondents were knowledgeable about Cataract surgery but 52% didn’t know about Intraocular Lens Implantation. With Glaucoma and Diabetic Retinopathy most of the students had minimal knowledge about the right treatment. In Diabetic Retinopathy 35% didn’t know the frequency of eye check-up and only 10.48% knew about right treatment. From the result it was seen that the knowledge of the eye conditions were was not at satisfactory level among the young generation of the country. Such awareness and knowledge could lead to better understanding and acceptance of the importance of the early detection and treatment of eye diseases.