Awareness of glaucoma among patients of the Department of Ophthalmology Sisters of Charity Hospital

Glaukom je nakon katarakte, drugi po učestalosti uzročnik sljepoće u svijetu i zahvaća oko 70 milijuna ljudi. Javlja se kod svih dobnih skupina, uključujući i djecu, ali najviše u starijih osoba. Svrha ovog istraživanja bila je provjeriti koliko su o glaukomu informirane osobe koje već neko vrijeme boluju od glaukoma i utječe li dob, spol, obrazovanje i obiteljska anamneza na bolje poznavanje glaukoma. U istraživanju je sudjelovalo 170 osoba, pacijenata Kabineta za glaukom, KBC-a Sestre milosrdnice u Zagrebu, a podaci su prikupljeni upitnikom koji se sa sastojao od 39 pitanja koja su se odnosila na glaukom- tijek bolesti, simptome, liječenje, nuspojave te 9 čestica kojima su prikupljeni demografski podaci te podaci o obiteljskoj anamnezi, razlogu dolaska, tipu glaukoma i simptomima. Podaci su obrađeni prikladnim statističkim metodama. Prema rezultatima nisu pronađene statistički značajne korelacije sa dobi, dobi u kojoj je otkriven glaukom, spolom, obrazovanjem i obiteljskom anamnezom. Pokazalo se da su glaukomski pacijenti dobro informirani o osnovnim činjenicama o glaukomu (npr. 92% ispitanika navelo da smatra da je rizik za glaukom veći ako se ima povišen očni tlak) dok se na pitanja vezana za liječenje i tip glaukoma najviše odgovaralo „ne znam“. Npr.Na tvrdnju da astmatičari i srčani bolesnici ne bi trebali koristiti neke vrste kapi 52.9 % ispitanika odgovorilo je da ne zna; da je glaukom otvorenog kuta najučestaliji tip glaukoma 58.8% ispitanike odgovorilo je da ne zna. Zanimljivo je da čak 50% posto ispitanika smatra da se korištenjem kapi može popraviti već nastalo oštećenje vida. Također prije dijagnoze, sa glaukomom je bilo upoznato samo 18.2% ispitanika .Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness in the world after cataract, affecting approximately 70 million people. Glaucoma affects people of all ages including children, but mostly older people. The purpose of this study was to determine what patients with glaucoma know about glaucoma and whether the knowledge about glaucoma is related to age, gender, education and family history. The study included 170 glaucoma patients recruited from the Cabinet for Glaucoma, Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Sestre milosrdnice in Zagreb. The data were collected by means of a questionnaire consisting of 39 items about glaucoma-course of the disease, its symptoms, therapy, side effects and 9 items about sociodemographic data including family history, cause of hospitalization and type of glaucoma. The data were quantitatively analyzed using appropriate statistical methods. According to the results, there are no statistically significant correlations between knowledge and age, age of onset, gender, education nor family history. However the answers to questionnaire items showed that glaucoma patients are well informed about main glaucoma facts (for example, 92% of patients said that the chance of getting glaucoma was higher if intraocular pressure is increased) while the most common answer to questions related to treatment and type of glaucoma was “I don’t know” (for example, to the statement that some eye drops should not be used by cardiac or asthma patients 52.9% patients responded with “I don’t know”; and to the statement that the most common type of glaucoma is open-angle glaucoma, 58.8% patients also responded that they didn’t know). It is interesting that 50% glaucoma patients consider that eye drops can repair the damage caused by glaucoma. Also, only 18.2% patients were familiar with glaucoma before they were diagnosed