PUBLIC AWARENESS OF COMMON EYE DISEASES AMONG HAIL POPULATION

Background: There are many ocular diseases, for instance, glaucoma, cataract, and diabetic retinopathy are considered leading causes of visual impairment and blindness worldwide with lack of studies that assessed the awareness of ocular diseases in the Middle East region. Aim: This study aims to evaluate the awareness of common eye diseases in Hail city, KSA Method: This a cross-sectional study which conducted in Hail City by random self-designed online questionnaire involved 292 participants. The questions were about the nature of the diseases, the familiarity with diseases, factors, treatment, chance to cause blindness and sources of information. Data was analyzed using SPSS package. Result: A bout 83.9% of participants were females and 16.1%, males. The level of the awareness of Cataract was (46%), glaucoma (20%), Diabetic retinopathy (40%), uveitis (24%). The most frequent source of information was the internet (46%) while other sources as follows, books (13.4%), mass media (11.6%), physician (9.5%) and relatives (4.3%). There is a significant relationship between awareness level and increased age, previous eye diseases and education level. Conclusion: The study results indicated that Hail population had good level of awareness about eye diseases but their knowledge of the diseases was still limited.