Background: Glaucoma,
a group of diseases that have optic neuropathy as a common end point, is the
leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide, accounting for 4.5 million
blindness, which is about 12% of global blindness. This study aimed to assess
the prevalence, awareness and risk factors associated with glaucoma in a rural
community of Ekiti State. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study
conducted during a health outreach. All adults present during the outreach were
enrolled into the study and screened for glaucoma and a semi-structured
self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. The validity of
the questionnaire was tested at Ijero-Ekiti community before being used for
this research. Data obtained was analysed using SPSS version 20 and p-value was
predetermined at ≤ 0.05. Results: Majority of respondents were aged 60
years and above with a mean age of 55 ± 11.7. Majority (73%) were females and
41% had secondary education. Prevalence of glaucoma was 10.7%; 36% of
respondents had heard about glaucoma; and 43.2% of those that had heard were
not aware that it can lead to blindness. Increasing age, level of education, procurement
of glasses from friends/relatives/roadside, using eyes drop not prescribed,
history of previous eyes injury and family history of glaucoma were factors
identified as having significant relationship with glaucoma. Conclusion: Glaucoma is prevalent in the community (10.7%). However, level of awareness
about the disease (36%) was low. Factors, such as age, level of education, procurement
of glasses from quacks, use of eye drops not prescribed, previous injury to the
eyes and family history of glaucoma, were shown to have significant
relationship with glaucoma. There is need to increase community awareness on
glaucoma as a major cause of blindness and the risk factors associated with it.
Community screening for people above 40 years for glaucoma is also recommended.
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