Awareness of eye diseases in an urban population in southern India

Objective To assess the level of awareness of eye diseases in the urban pop ulation of Hyderabad in southern India. Methods A total of 2522 subjects of ail ages, who were representative of th e Hyderabad population, participated in the population-based Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease Study. Of these subjects, 1859 aged >15 years responded to a s tructured questionnaire on cataract, glaucoma, night blindness and diabetic retinopathy to trained field investigators. Having heard of the eye diseas e in question was defined as "awareness" and having some understanding of t he eye disease was defined as "knowledge" Findings Awareness of cataract (69.8%) and night blindness (60.0%) was mode rate but that of diabetic retinopathy (27.0%) was low, while that of glauco ma (2.3%) was very poor. Knowledge of all the eye diseases assessed was poo r. Subjects aged greater than or equal to 30 years were significantly more aware of all eye diseases assessed except night blindness. Multivariate ana lysis revealed that women were significantly less aware of night blindness (odds ratio (OR) = 0.78; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.63-0.97). Educati on played a significant role in awareness of these eye diseases. Study subj ects of upper socioeconomic status were significantly more aware of night b lindness (OR = 2.20; 95% Cf = 1.29-3.74) and those belonging to upper and m iddle socioeconomic strata were significantly more aware of diabetic retino pathy (OR = 2.79; 95% CI = 2.19-3.56). Muslims were significantly more awar e of cataract (OR = 2.36; 95% CI = 1.84-3.02) and less aware of night blind ness (OR = 0.52; 95% CI = 0.42-0.64). The major source of awareness of the eye diseases was a family member/friend/relative suffering from that eye di sease. Conclusion These data suggest that there is a need for health education in this Indian population to increase their level of awareness and knowledge o f common eye diseases. Such awareness and knowledge could lead to better un derstanding and acceptance of the importance of routine eye examinations fo r the early detection and treatment of eye diseases, thereby reducing visua l impairment in this population.