Abstract

Overview of Public's Awareness toward Glaucoma, Cataracts and Keratoconus in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Introduction: To assess the public citizens’ awareness of cataract, glaucoma and keratoconus in Jeddah city, KSA using a self-administered, cross-sectional survey.

Methods: The study survey was administered to 734 participants in the Mall of Arabia, Jeddah, KSA and was designed to measure the public’s knowledge about the diseases’ definitions, risk factors, signs, symptoms, treatments and complications using quiz-styled questions. A correct response was allocated one point per each question for each participant. No points were deducted for incorrect responses.

Results: The results of the study suggest that cataract, glaucoma and keratoconus are poorly understood among the participants with a total performance of less than 31%, as measured by mean score collected via the 24-item scored questionnaire despite being a female being significantly associated with better overall knowledge of the diseases (7.82 ± 4.5; p=0.006). In addition, it appears that higher levels of education played a crucial role in the better knowledge of study participants (p=0.007).

Conclusion: Cataract, glaucoma and keratoconus are all manageable conditions. As a result, raising the public’s awareness toward them in a professional medical manner is very crucial to avoid their downsides on an individual’s quality of life.

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