ABSTRACT

The goal of this project was to determine the extent to which students and staff of the University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State are knowledgeable about glaucoma and cataracts. We used a survey to ask participants questions about their age, gender, and knowledge of these eye disorders in order to get this data. The research included 2,000 participants who were selected using convenience sampling technique. This population consisted of more females than males (66.9%; n=1338). The respondents were mostly between the age of 17 and 25years of age (59.15%; n=1183) with mean age of 24.46 ± 7.73years comprising more of students (n=1174; 58.7%). A structured questionnaire was used to collect demographic data and data on the level of awareness and knowledge of glaucoma and cataract among the participants. The study revealed that 87.15% (n=1,743) have heard of cataract (awareness). Of all the respondents, 88.15% (n=1,763) indicated they had heard about the eye condition glaucoma (awareness). The study also indicated a high level of knowledge of glaucoma and cataract among the respondents. There was a significant association between the knowledge of cataract and age ( P= 0.000) as well as the level of education ( P = 0.004). There was also a relationship between the knowledge of glaucoma and all four socio-demographic data which are age (P = 0.000), gender (P = 0.000), education (P = 0.006) and employment (P= 0.000)

Keywords: Glaucoma, cataract, awareness, knowledge.