Abstract

PREVALENCE, KNOWLEDGE AND AWARENESS OF COMMON EYE DISEASES AMONG THE UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS OF PABNA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, PABNA, BANGLADESH

Reshma Akter*, Shakil Hossain, Azad Hossain, Zakia Sultana, Lovely Akter, Shanjida Alam Shajuti, Sultan Mahmud and Shafiqul Islam

ABSTRACT

Objective: The aim of this study was to reveal the prevalence, knowledge and awareness of common eye diseases among the undergraduate students of Pabna University of Science and Technology (PUST), Pabna, Bangladesh. Materials and Method: Total 500 students were interviewed from various departments of the university. Data were collected from participants using a self-designed questionnaire which was developed in English. The students were randomly selected and requested to fill up the questionnaire. Results: Among the participants, 63% were male and 37% were female. Both science (57%) and non-science (43%) students were included in this study. Of total, 150 (30%) student’s suffering from various ocular problems, 60% were suffering from refractive error specially myopia and the remaining 3%, 1%, 3% and 2% were suffering from glaucoma, mydrasis, conjunctivitis and cataract, respectively. We showed that 43%, 25%, 45%, 50%, 35% and 31% students have knowledge about refractive error, cataract, glaucoma, mydrasis, conjunctivitis and diabetic retinopathy, respectively. Awareness status regarding refractive error, cataract, glaucoma, mydrasis, conjunctivitis and diabetic retinopathy were 58%, 13%, 19%, 43%, 39% and 8% respectively. Current study also revealed that only 4% students did regular eye check up and surprisingly 10% of the participants checked their eye by ophthalmologist. Only 25% students were found to be aware of the risk factors regarding eye diseases. Conclusion: The study concluded that the knowledge and awareness about common eye diseases among the university level undergraduate students were highly dissatisfactory. At this point, the only remedy of this crisis is to promote health awareness programs and develop effective health education as well as eye care policy by the government to reduce visual disability among the university students as well as the people of Bangladesh.

Keywords: Refractive error, cataract, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, conjunctivitis.