Wubet Gashaw Mehiret, Assefa Abiyu Ayalew
School of Medicine, College of Health Science, Debre Tabor University, Debre Tabor, Ethiopia.
Department of Public Health, Hawassa College of Health Science, P.O.Box: 84, Hawassa, Ethiopia.
BMC Ophthalmol. 2021 Nov 19;21(1):400. doi: 10.1186/s12886-021-02168-y.
Nearly 1.9% of global blindness is caused by glaucoma and this is sadly high in Africa which is around 15% and In Ethiopia, glaucoma is responsible for 5.2% of blindness. It is also the fifth cause of blindness in Ethiopia. Scarce information is available regarding glaucoma in Ethiopia; hence we determined the proportion of glaucoma and its associated factors in North West Ethiopia which will be utilized for future related researches and different stakeholders.
Institution based cross-sectional study was conducted from September 1/2020 to February 30/21 among 258 adults aged 40 and above years old. The participants were selected using the systematic random sampling technique. The data was collected using an interview-administered questionnaire. Binary and Multi-variable logistic regressions were fitted to identify independent predictors of glaucoma. P-value less than 0.05 were used as a cutoff point for declaring statistical significance.
The prevalence of glaucoma was 66(26%) with a 95% CI of 17.7, 35.4%). Individuals with Positive family history of glaucoma (AOR: 3.72, 95% CI: 1.03-3.53), age (AOR: 3.21, 95% CI: 1.92-5.99) and elevated intraocular pressure (AOR: 3.09, 95% CI: 1.45-6.59) were statistically significant contributing factors for the development of glaucoma.
The study found a relatively high proportion of glaucoma in the study area, which is primarily a disease of the elderly. Age, elevated intraocular pressure, and positive family history of glaucoma was contributing factors for the emergence of glaucoma. Therefore, establishing public awareness programs about the identified risk factors for the prevention and early detection of cases is essential.
全球近1.9%的失明是由青光眼导致的，而在非洲这一比例高达约15%，令人遗憾。在埃塞俄比亚，青光眼导致5.2%的失明，是该国失明的第五大原因。关于埃塞俄比亚青光眼的信息稀缺；因此，我们确定了埃塞俄比亚西北部青光眼的比例及其相关因素，这将用于未来的相关研究及不同利益相关者。
2020年9月1日至2021年2月28日，对258名40岁及以上的成年人开展了基于机构的横断面研究。采用系统随机抽样技术选取参与者。通过访谈问卷收集数据。采用二元和多变量逻辑回归来确定青光眼的独立预测因素。P值小于0.05作为判定统计学显著性的临界点。
青光眼患病率为66例（26%），95%置信区间为（17.7%，35.4%）。青光眼家族史阳性者（比值比：3.72，95%置信区间：1.03 - 3.53）、年龄（比值比：3.21，95%置信区间：1.92 - 5.99）和眼压升高（比值比：3.09，95%置信区间：1.45 - 6.59）是青光眼发生的统计学显著影响因素。
该研究发现研究区域内青光眼比例相对较高，青光眼主要是一种老年疾病。年龄、眼压升高和青光眼家族史阳性是青光眼发病的影响因素。因此，开展关于已确定的危险因素的公众意识项目对于预防和早期发现病例至关重要。
