Background: Worldwide, glaucoma is the second most common cause of blindness. In spite of the high epidemiological importance the data on people’s knowledge about glaucoma is limited. In this study we evaluate the knowledge about glaucoma in a group of employees in Germany.
Material and Methods: 402 participants in the glaucoma screening of a big company in Munich received a questionnaire about glaucoma before the screening’s ophtalmological tests and doctor’s appointments. 399 participants returned the questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of demographic questions like age, sex, education etc. and questions about the participant’s health-related knowledge. This included e.g. questions about risk factors for both glaucoma and stroke, the difference between glaucoma and cataract (in german, glaucoma is commonly known as “grüner Star”, cataract is commonly known as “grauer Star”; therefore, a lot of people get confused over the difference of the diseases), screening and prevention possibilities and possible consequences of glaucoma.
In the statistical analysis we used Chisquare Testing, Fisher’s Exact Test and Two Sample t-Testing.
Results: More than 90 % of participants had heard of “Glaucoma”, a Quarter (27,6) of them knew, that there are no early symptoms of glaucoma. Only 2 persons (0,5 %) got the question on risk factors for glaucoma completely right, but 46,5 % knew about family history and 38,3 % about age as major risk factors. Almost every participant knew, that the ophthalmologist is the one who can diagnose a glaucoma and the majority (89,7 %) knew, that glaucoma may lead to blindness.
In terms of necessary tests in diagnosing glaucoma 83,7 % knew the testing of intraocular pressure, but not quite half of our participants knew about funduskopy. Most participants thought that testing for glaucoma should be done every year (33,8 %) or every two years (44,6 %).
Almost two thirds (63,9 %) of participanrs had heard about „Cataract“, but only one third (36,1 %) could correctly name the affected part of the eye. Only 0,8 % of participants could correctly identify all mentioned risk factors for stroke without checking wrong answers. The best known risk factors were high blood pressure (91,0 %), smoking (76,9 %) and overweight (74,9 %).
In our cohort, the only difference in knowledge between the sexes, the age groups and the living situation was that men knew more than women about the affected parts of the eye in both glaucoma and cataract. There was a significant difference in the knowledge about the affected parts of the eye – but not the recognition of the terms – related to education. Participants with vision aid knew more about the eye conditions than participants without vision aid. Smokers knew less about glaucoma than non-smokers.
Discussion: Our patients’ knowledge about glaucoma is limited, but it’s better than in most studies so far. Further studies are required to find out about knowledge in the general population as well as in high risk groups. In Germany there is the need for an agreement on screening/prevention of glaucoma.
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Background: Worldwide, glaucoma is the second most common cause of blindness. In spite of the high epidemiological importance the data on people’s knowledge about glaucoma is limited. In this study we evaluate the knowledge about glaucoma in a group of employees in Germany.
Material and Methods: 402 participants in the glaucoma screening of a big company in Munich received a questionnaire about glaucoma before the screening’s ophtalmological tests and doctor’s appointments. 399 participants ret...
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