Patient education in glaucoma: what do patients know about glaucoma?
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the knowledge glaucoma patients have about their disease and its treatment.


METHODS
One hundred and eighty-three patients were interviewed at the Glaucoma Service of Wills Eye Hospital (Philadelphia, USA, Group 1) and 100 at the Glaucoma Service of University of Campinas (Campinas, Brazil, Group 2). An informal, relaxed atmosphere was created by the interviewer before asking a list of 18 open-ended questions.


RESULTS
In Group 1, 44% of the 183 patients did not have an acceptable idea about what glaucoma is, 30% did not know the purpose of the medications they were taking, 47% were not aware of what was an average intraocular pressure, and 45% did not understand why visual fields were examined. In Group 2, 54% gave unsatisfactory answers to the question "What is glaucoma?", 54% did not know the purpose of the medications they were taking, 80% were not aware of what was an average intraocular pressure, and 94% did not understand why visual fields were examined (p<0.001). Linear regression analysis demonstrated that level of education was positively correlated to knowledge about glaucoma in both groups (r=0.65, p=0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
This study showed that patients' knowledge about glaucoma varies greatly, and that in an urban, American setting, around one third of the patients have minimal understanding, whereas in an urban setting in Brazil around two thirds of patients were lacking basic information about glaucoma. Innovative and effective methods are needed to correct this situation.
Costa
Vital Paulino
VP
Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil. vp.costa@uol.com.br
Spaeth
George L
GL
Smith
Maura
M
Uddoh
Cordelia
C
Vasconcellos
José Paulo Cabral
JP
Kara-José
Newton
N
D000368:Aged; D001364:Awareness; D001938:Brazil; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005901:Glaucoma / Q000628:therapy; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006786:Hospitals, Urban; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014481:United States