Dr. Bhawesh Chandra Saha, S16436, Dr. Rashmi Kumari, Dr. Aastha Singh, Dr. Abhishek Anand
Aim ;To study the level of awareness and knowledge of glaucoma in patients of different socioeconomic status at a tertiary eye care hospital in Eastern India.
Materials and Methods: Our study was a hospital based cross sectional study. A total of 2315 patients attending ophthalmology outpatient department at our institute, aged 30 years and above, were given a structured questionnaire after a written informed consent to assess their awareness and knowledge levels of glaucoma.The questionnaire comprised questions related to the awareness (having heard of glaucoma), source of awareness as well as knowledge regarding cause, effects and treatment of glaucoma . Knowledge was graded as poor,fair and good depending upon the score obtained.To assess the socioeconomic status, updated Kuppuswamy’s scale (2012) was used and awareness and knowledge levels in different socioeconomic groups were compared.
Results: Out of 2315 subjects recruited for the study, only 268 (11.57%) subjects were aware of glaucoma out of which 185 (68.28%) had