title: Awareness and knowledge of glaucoma among workers in a Nigerian tertiary health care institution.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study reports the level of awareness and knowledge of glaucoma among selected health care personnel at a health institution in southwestern Nigeria.
  
  
  METHODS
  Health personnel at the Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Nigeria, a tertiary health care institution were stratified into a clinical and an administrative directorate. One-hundred twenty participants were selected from each directorate by a random sampling technique. A structured questionnaire was used to collect sociodemographic data and data on the level of knowledge and awareness of glaucoma. Statistical analyses included the independent t-test and Pearson's chi-square test for categorical variables. Statistical significance was indicated by P < 0.05.
  
  
  RESULTS
  From the target population of 240 participants, 216 (98 males; 118 females) completed the questionnaire. The mean age of the participants was 35.07 ± 07 years. A total of 148 (68.6%) participants had heard of glaucoma comprising all participants from the clinical directorate and 28 participants from the administrative directorate. There was no statistically significant difference between the clinical and administrative directorates about the knowledge of the aspect of vision that is first affected by glaucoma, the painless nature of glaucoma among most Africans and the irreversible nature of glaucoma-related blindness (P > 0.05, all comparisons).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is the need to update the knowledge base of these workers if they are to be useful in propagating information of the irreversible blindness that could arise from delay in glaucoma diagnosis and treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Federal Medical Centre, Owo, Nigeria.
authors.forename: O O
authors.initials: OO
authors.lastname: Komolafe
authors.forename: C O
authors.initials: CO
authors.lastname: Omolase
authors.forename: C O
authors.initials: CO
authors.lastname: Bekibele
authors.forename: O A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Ogunleye
authors.forename: O A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Komolafe
authors.forename: F O
authors.initials: FO
authors.lastname: Omotayo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001766:Blindness; D005260:Female; D005901:Glaucoma / Q000523:psychology*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009549:Nigeria / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Awareness; Glaucoma; Health Care Workers; Knowledge; Medical Knowledge; Owo; Public Health