AWARENESS OF KERATOCONJUNCTIVITIS SICCA (DRY EYE DISEASE) IN UNIVERSITY OF BENIN COMMUNITY

ABSTRACT

Dry eye disease, also known as dry eye syndrome or keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS). It is a multifactorial disease characterized by insufficient tear production or poor tear quality, which can cause discomfort, irritation, and other vision-related symptoms. The research is a descriptive cross-sectional study in nature aimed at assessing dry eye syndrome awareness level in university of Benin community. A total of one thousand and ninety-nine (n=1099) participants with in the aged bracket 18-45 years, with a mean age of   25.57 ± 0.55 comprises of both male (33.5%) and females (66.5%) of various educational status participated in this study. A questionnaire was randomly distributed to assess their level of awareness of dry eye disease (DED). Data analysis shows that 492 (44.8%) participants were aware of what dry eye disease is while the remaining 607 (55.2%) had no knowledge of dry eye disease. Of this awareness level, majority 196 (53.3%) are male while the remainder 296 (40.5%) were females. 57.3% of those that had known what dry eye is were within the age bracket of 26 and 35 years, followed by 36 and 45 years (55.7%), and 18 and 25 years (39.9%). Also, awareness level was found to be among graduates (69.8%), followed by primary (50.5), post-graduates (48.3%), secondary (45.5%), and the least, undergraduate (41.4%). Data was analyzed using SPSS computer software version 23.0. With Chi square test, there was a statistically significant difference found among the demography data age, gender, educational qualification (p = 0.00) in relationship to awareness of dry eye syndrome (DES). In conclusion, the result of this study showed that dry eye syndrome awareness was found to be low. An attempt should be made to increase the awareness level of the society with dry eye syndrome (DED), so modifiable risk factors can be reduced.