ABSTRACT
Background: Corneal diseases are the second major cause of blindness. Corneal transplantation is the most effective treatment with high rate of success but there is a shortage of corneal donors. The study analyzed various factors affecting the willingness to donate cornea. Methods: This community based cross sectional study was conducted among the adults residing in 9 sub-centres under PHC Kinaye, Belagavi in Karnataka, India. The participants (n=400) answered questionnaires which included details such as the demographic profile and, awareness and willingness to donate eyes. Univariate logistic regression analysis was performed for the data. Results: Out of 400 participants, 80.5% were aware of eye donation among which 52% were willing to donate. Univariate analysis showed that adults who were less than 40 years were more aware when compared to those who were more than 40 years (p=0.0001) and more educated adults were willing to donate than illiterate. Adults from joint family were more aware when compared to those from nuclear family (p=0.005). Religious beliefs influenced the willingness of adults for donation as 83.6% denied willingness to donate. Conclusions: The results of our study strongly suggest that there are a lot of misconceptions regarding eye donation in most parts of our country. It is evident from our study that education and involvement of those in health sector, will help to spread knowledge about eye donation and to eliminate misconceptions and ignorance about corneal donation.