ASSESSMENT OF EYE HEALTH AND EYE EXAMINATION AWARENESS AMONG JEDDAH CITY POPULATION, SAUDI ARABIA

Background: Understanding the importance of eye health, eye examination, and raise public awareness about solutions to the problems related to the vision through an effective way of detecting changes and identifying problems early are important factors to help guide strategies to preserve vision and prevent visual impairment.

Methods: Data were collected using a cross-sectional study of a cluster randomized sample technique from 1,946 respondents among Jeddah residents at Jeddah’s Corniche in the period of 13th - 14th of October 2016, through a questionnaire assessing eye diseases and examination awareness as well as educational attainment and medical history.

Results: 1,946 Respondents participated in the study with mean age of 21 years old. 47% of the participants reported self-diagnosed eye problem, while 41% wearing spectacles, most of them (70%) weren’t using non-prescription contact lenses. Most respondents don’t know when should the first eye examination perform (73%). Of the respondents surveyed, a majority reported no known ophthalmic family history (54%). Most individuals surveyed (78%) did not know what is the most common cause of blindness worldwide, while 78% of respondents have heard of cataract and 66% of glaucoma, over 54% have never heard of diabetic retinopathy and 82% have never heard of age related macular degeneration. Majority of respondents did not know that refractive errors are a treatable condition (60.3%), and about 73.3% did not know the frequency of diabetic eye examinations. While 43.5% were unaware of smoking risk on vision, most surveyed individual (92%) believed that a good vision and eye care is vital for overall health. Of the 1,946 survey respondents (55.3%) rated the quality of life is the most devastating consequence of vision loss. Approximately 82.4% and 52.1%, respectively, were aware that a lot of eye conditions which may end up by blindness are basically preventable conditions if they were detected and managed early, and some systemic diseases can be detected through an eye examination. Most respondents believe that there is limited knowledge and awareness regarding eye health and eye examination importance among the population of all age groups. To raise public awareness regarding eye health and eye examination, 37.9% ranked the internet on the top as the preferred method of use, followed by awareness campaigns (33.8%).

Conclusion: Although there is awareness of population in all age groups on the good eye vision and eye care being vital for overall health, their awareness about the eye examination and some common treatable eye conditions were limited. Eye care and healthy vision public promotion activities and efforts are required to raise awareness on the importance of eye examination and eye health.