Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology, PO Box 561, Kathmandu, Nepal.
BMC Ophthalmol. 2014 Jan 8;14:2. doi: 10.1186/1471-2415-14-2.
Poor health literacy is often a key cause of lack of or delayed uptake of health care services. The aim of this study was to assess the health literacy of common ocular diseases, namely cataract, glaucoma, night blindness, trachoma and diabetic retinopathy in Nepal.
A cross sectional study of 1741 participants randomly selected from non-triaged attendants in the outpatient queue at Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology, a semi urban general population of Bhaktapur district of Kathmandu Valley and patients attending rural outreach clinics. Participants responded to trained enumerators using verbally administered, semi structured questionnaires on their awareness and knowledge of cataract, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, night blindness, and trachoma.
The awareness of cataract across the entire sample was 49.6%, night blindness was 48.3%, diabetic retinopathy was 29%, glaucoma was 21.3% and trachoma was 6.1%. Patients presenting to rural outreach clinics had poorer awareness of cataract, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, night blindness and trachoma compared to those from a semi-urban community and an urban eye hospital (p<0.05), Old age was directly associated with poorer awareness of cataract, glaucoma, night blindness, trachoma and diabetic retinopathy (p<0.05). Female gender was associated with lower awareness of cataract, glaucoma, night blindness and trachoma (p<0.05). Literacy was associated with greater awareness of cataract, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, night blindness and trachoma (p<0.05). Higher education was significantly associated with greater awareness of cataract, night blindness and trachoma (p<0.05). Multivariate analysis found that the awareness of common ocular diseases was significantly associated with level of education (p<0.05). Similarly, awareness of cataract, glaucoma, trachoma and night blindness was associated with female gender (p<0.05) whereas awareness of cataract, night blindness, trachoma and diabetic retinopathy was associated with age (p<0.05) but the awareness glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy was associated with camps.
Low awareness of common ocular conditions is associated with factors such as female gender, old age, lower levels of education and rural habitation. A would be successful health promotion programs should specifically target health determinants to promote health literacy and to ensure timely utilization of eye care services.
健康素养差通常是导致人们缺乏或延迟接受医疗服务的一个关键原因。本研究旨在评估尼泊尔常见眼部疾病（白内障、青光眼、夜盲症、沙眼和糖尿病性视网膜病变）的健康素养。
本研究为横断面研究，在提格拉斯眼科医院（Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology）门诊队列中非分诊候诊者、巴克塔普尔区（Bhaktapur District）半城市一般人群以及农村外展诊所就诊者中随机抽取了 1741 名参与者。参与者通过经培训的调查员使用口头管理、半结构化问卷，对白内障、青光眼、糖尿病性视网膜病变、夜盲症和沙眼的认知和知识进行了回答。
在整个样本中，白内障的知晓率为 49.6%，夜盲症为 48.3%，糖尿病性视网膜病变为 29%，青光眼为 21.3%，沙眼为 6.1%。与半城市社区和城市眼科医院相比，农村外展诊所的患者对白内障、青光眼、糖尿病性视网膜病变、夜盲症和沙眼的认知度较差（p<0.05）。年龄较大与白内障、青光眼、夜盲症、沙眼和糖尿病性视网膜病变的认知度较差直接相关（p<0.05）。女性与白内障、青光眼、夜盲症和沙眼的认知度较低有关（p<0.05）。文化程度与对白内障、青光眼、糖尿病性视网膜病变、夜盲症和沙眼的认知度较高有关（p<0.05）。较高的教育程度与白内障、夜盲症和沙眼的认知度较高显著相关（p<0.05）。多元分析发现，常见眼部疾病的认知度与教育程度显著相关（p<0.05）。同样，白内障、青光眼、沙眼和夜盲症的认知度与性别有关（p<0.05），而白内障、夜盲症、沙眼和糖尿病性视网膜病变的认知度与年龄有关（p<0.05），但青光眼和糖尿病性视网膜病变的认知度与营地有关。
对常见眼部疾病的认知度较低与女性、年龄较大、教育程度较低和农村居住等因素有关。成功的健康促进计划应特别针对健康决定因素，以促进健康素养，并确保及时利用眼科保健服务。
