ASSESSMENT OF THE LEVEL OF AWARENESS AND KNOWLEDGE OF EMERGENCYOPHTHALMIC DISEASES AMONG THE POPULATION OF SAUDI ARABIA

Abstract

   

among those who are at risk of developing the stated conditions. Concerning awareness and Knowledge
score of emergency ophthalmic diseases, a significant proportion of the population, 93.0% to be precise,
falls under the category of having a poor level of awareness and knowledge regarding emergency
ophthalmic diseases. Only a small percentage of respondents, 1.8% demonstrated a good level of
awareness and knowledge, while 5.3% exhibited a moderate level. In contrast, 60.4% of the respondents
have heard about retinal detachment, indicating a considerable level of awareness in the population.
Moreover, there was a statistically significant relation to being a healthcare worker (p value=0.0001),
but there was a statistically insignificant relation to age, region, gender, household income and the
duration since last eye examination among the participants.
Conclusion: Based on our study outcome, both knowledge and awareness of the eye emergencies are
low among the population. However, there was a considerable level of awareness in the population as
regard retinal detachment. Thus, to ameliorate awareness and knowledge, there is a need for public
health education of ophthalmic emergencies. Teaching the public about both the risk factors and
symptoms will lead to early recognition of the diseases and, thus, prevention.