Awareness of glaucoma among adult patients attending hawassa university comprehensive specialized hospital ophthalmic outpatient department, Sidama, Ethiopia, August 2022.

BACKGROUND: Due to the asymptomatic nature of the disease and lack of awareness, most glaucoma patients present for eye examination late, after significant damage of optic nerve occur. Being aware of glaucoma is important for timely diagnosis of the disease and preventing blindness from it. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess glaucoma awareness and associated factors among adult patients aged 35 and over attending the eye outpatient department. METHODS: Hospital based cross-sectional study was conducted on 284 adult patients aged 35 and over attending ophthalmic outpatient department from July to August 2022 using systematic random sampling. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. The data were checked for completeness, and then entered to SPSS version 22 software. Descriptive and binary logistic regression analyses were performed. Independent variables with p-value ≤ 0.05 in multivariate logistic regression were considered as statistically significant. RESULTS: About 284 study participants, of whom 57.75% were male, participated in this study with a response rate of 94.1%. The mean age of the study participants was 53.58 years. Only 39.09%(95% CI: 36.53-41.65) were aware of glaucoma. Age groups 46-50 [AOR; 1.83: 1.18, 2.56] and 51-64 [AOR; 3.21: 2.03, 4.39], having college education or above [AOR; 3.1: 2.20, 6.64], family member with glaucoma [AOR; 5.86:3.25, 8.0], income 6500 ETB [AOR; 2.9: 1.97, 5.00] and previous eye examination [AOR; 2.15: 1.46, 4.05] were factors significantly associated with awareness of glaucoma. The main sources of information were news media, family members with glaucoma and health workers. CONCLUSION: More than half (60.91%) of adult ophthalmic patients attending HUCSH were unaware of glaucoma and need eye health education concerning glaucoma.

Unmet need for presbyopia correction and its associated factors among school teachers in Hawassa city, South Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Presbyopia is a decline in the amplitude of accommodation with the onset in the age range 40-45 years affecting near visual task performance. As the age of presbyopia onset coincides with productive age, it results in great productivity loss especially in those with high near visual demand like teachers. A maximum near vision potential is essential for teachers in ensuring the quality of education, as most of the students' evaluations and scripts are assessed manually in Ethiopia. The prevalence of unmet need for presbyopia correction among school teachers ranges from 38.5-70.4% worldwide. Though presbyopia is a common ocular condition, there is limited evidence regarding the unmet need for presbyopia correction in Ethiopia as well as in Hawassa city. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the magnitude of unmet need for presbyopia correction and its associated factors among school teachers in Hawassa city, South Ethiopia. METHODS: A school-based cross-sectional study was conducted among teachers older than 35 years. A simple random sampling technique was used to select participants using name lists as a sampling frame from 69 schools. The participants selected underwent for distance and near visual acuity test. Those with distance visual acuity of 6/12 or worse were refracted before near visual acuity test. Information on the spectacle use and associated factors was obtained using the interviewer-administered questionnaire. Data analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences software version 20. Binary logistic regression analysis was performed to assess association between independent variables and the unmet need for presbyopia correction. RESULTS: A total of 459 study participants were included in the study with a response rate of 95.21%.The unmet need for presbyopia correction was 51.26% (95%CI: 46.7-55.6%). Female gender (AOR = 2.50; 95%CI: 1.51-4.15), age 36-45 (AOR = 4.12; 95%CI: 1.46-11.76), unaware of presbyopia (AOR = 2.36; 95%CI: 1.2-4.66) and self-rating of current vision as good (AOR = 3.5; 95%CI: 1.61-7.6) were factors significantly associated with the unmet need for presbyopia. CONCLUSIONS: The burden of unmet need for presbyopia correction is a moderate priority according to the World Health Organization for presbyopia correction services criteria. A school-based presbyopia awareness creation program is important to reduce this huge burden.