Awareness of glaucoma

Glaukom je vodeći uzročnik sljepoće u svijetu s najčešće asimptomatskim početkom, no tijek i ishod navedene bolesti ovise upravo o ranoj detekciji. Zbog toga je pravodobno informiranje ljudi o faktorima rizika i poticanje na redovne oftalmološke preglede ključno u bobi protiv glaukoma. Kako bi problematika glaukoma postala aktualna, Referentni centar za glaukom Kliničkog bolničkog centra Sestre milosrdnice uz potporu Hrvatskog oftalmološkog saveza oraganizirao je nacionalnu kampanju „Zaustavimo glaukom“. Cilj rada je bio izmjeriti razinu svjesnosti i informiranosti o glaukomu, te provjeriti postoje li razlike među ispitanicima s obzirom na spol, dob, najvišu završenu razinu obrazovanja, prethodnu dijagnozu glaukoma i pozitivnu obiteljsku anamnezu, te koji su najčešći izvori informiranja o glaukomu kod ispitanika. Uzorak je sačinjavao 406 ispitanika koji su dobrovoljno odlučili izmjeriti vrijednost svoga intraokularnoga tlaka tijekom Svjetskog tjedna glaukoma u Zagrebu. Mjerni instrument je novokonstruiran, a sastoji se od dva dijela: opći podatci, te svjesnost i informiranost o glaukomu. Priklupljeni podatci su kvantitativno obrađeni pomoću programa IBM SPSS Statistics. Prema rezultatima, ispitanici pokazuju visoku razinu informiranosti o glaukomu. Približno 90% ispitanika zna kako se glaukom može kontrolirati, da je moguće imati glaukom bez simptoma oboljenja, kako glaukom može rezultirati sljepoćom, te da je faktor rizika za glaukom povišeni intraokularni tlak. Što se tiče izvora informiranja o galukomu, ispitanici su najčešće prikupili informacije iz medija i pisane stručne literature (78,1%), te zatim podjednako od obitelji, prijatelja i rodbine (31,8) i liječnika i drugih zdravstvenih djelatnika (31,5%). Nadalje, ispitanici koji su imali povijest glaukoma u široj obitelji imali su statistički značajnu veću razinu znanja o glaukomu u usporedbi s ispitanicima koji nisu imali povijest glaukoma u široj obitelji (α* = 0,008 = 0,8% α* < 5%). Nije pronađena statistički značajna razlika po spolu, dobi, prethodnoj dijagnozi glaukoma, obrazovanju i povijesti glaukoma u užoj obitelji.Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness in the world, usually characterized by an asymptomatic disease onset, whose development and outcome are dependent on its early detection. It is therefore crucial for glaucoma prevention to timely inform the population on risk factors and to encourage patients to have regular ophthalmic examinations. To draw attention to the issues associated with glaucoma, the Reference centre for glaucoma of the University Hospital Centre „Sestre milosrdnice“, supported by the Croatian Ophthalmological Society, organised the national campaign „Stop Glaucoma“. The purpose of the paper was to assess the level of awareness and knowledge about glaucoma, and to determine whether there are significant differences between the research participants considering their gender, age, education level, earlier glaucoma diagnosis and positive family history, and to establish the main sources of information about glaucoma. The total sample included 406 participants who voluntarily chose to have their intraocular pressure measured on the World Glaucoma Day in Zagreb. The measurement instrument is newly constructed, and consists of two parts: general data and the level of awareness and knowledge about glaucoma. The data collected were quantitatively analyzed by using IBM SPSS Statistics software. According to the results, the participants show high level of knowledge about glaucoma. Nearly 90% of participants know how to control glaucoma, as well as that it is possible to be affected by glaucoma without experiencing any symptoms, that glaucoma may lead to blindness, and that elevated intraocular pressure represents a risk factor for glaucoma. Regarding the information sources, the participants mostly collected the information from the media and specialized literature (78,1%), whereas other two sources of information - family, friends and relatives (31,8%), and doctors and other health care workers (31,5%), are equally represented. Further, the participants who had positive family history of the disease in the extended family had statistically significant higher knowledge level about glaucoma when compared to the participants with negative family history of the disease (α* = 0,008 = 0,8% α* < 5%). No statistically significant difference among participants was found based on gender, age, existing glaucoma diagnosis, education or family history of glaucoma in the immediate family