Awareness Regarding Common Childhood Ocular Problems amongst Parents Visiting Paediatric OPD in a Tertiary Level Hospital in the State of Uttarakhand, India

Parents are primary caretakers of children, and lack of parental awareness on eye conditions might result in visual impairment and ocular morbidity. Purpose: To evaluate the awareness about common causes of childhood blindness amongst parents of paediatric patients, belonging to different socio-economic strata and their ophthalmic care seeking behaviour.

A cross-sectional study amongst 100 parents of children less than 18 years attending paediatric outpatient department (OPD) of a tertiary hospital in Uttarakhand, India through a pretested, structured questionnaire.

Age of the respondents ranged from 24 to 65 years. Majority (54%) were males; 76% of the respondents had been educated higher than primary school. Awareness regarding various causes of childhood blindness amongst them ranged from 19% to 89%. Significant differences were observed in their perception of cataract (p=0.01), squint (p=0.0004), corneal opacity (p<0.0001) and glaucoma (p=0.03) as conditions that could lead to childhood blindness, with their place of residence and education level. Awareness about the role of balanced diet (p=0.03) and vitamin-A supplements (p=0.002) was significantly more in those with higher education. Urban parents were more aware of the importance of not wearing spectacles regularly (p=0.0001). More than 90% parents were aware that childhood blindness could be prevented, and 92% were aware that it could be treated. However, only 30% took their children for regular eye check-ups.

Parents are aware of common eye problems which lead to blindness in children but have wrong perceptions of their causes and their optimal management. Increased awareness about these is required to positively affect the eye-care seeking behaviour of parents for their children, thereby contributing to improving their ocular health and general development.