Published online Dec 20, 2025. doi: 10.5662/wjm.v15.i4.105287
Revised: April 2, 2025
Accepted: April 15, 2025
Published online: December 20, 2025
Processing time: 199 Days and 19.2 Hours
Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide, with 60.5 million affected individuals, of whom 11 million are from India. Due to its asym
To identify awareness, knowledge, and attitudes about glaucoma among heal
This cross-sectional study was conducted at a tertiary care institute in Eastern India. Data were collected from 423 participants by systematic stratified sampling after Institutional Ethics Committee approval via a pretested, self-designed, semistructured, validated questionnaire. Statistical analyses were performed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences Software v22.0. Continuous variables are expressed as the means ± SD for parametric values and medians with interquartile ranges for nonparametric values. The associations between the variables were studied via multivariate linear and logistic regression. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Most respondents were 20–30 years old (n = 345, 81.6%). The knowledge regarding glaucoma was good, and almost 56.3% of the participants gained knowledge from their medical training. The majority were aware that it has a familial predisposition and is secondary to high intraocular pressure, leading to irreversible peripheral vision loss. Only 42% knew about the life-long requirements of treatment. The resident group scored highest on knowledge- and attitude-based questions, whereas the faculty group scored highest on practice-based questions. Although 62% of the nursing staff had good attitude scores, their knowledge and practice scores were lower. The occupation group response difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05) for all the knowledge-based questions.
Although the majority of healthcare providers are aware of glaucoma, there is a dearth of knowledge about treatment modalities. Education via seminars and media can improve their knowledge, attitudes, and practices.
Core Tip: Our study aims to understand the current knowledge, attitude, practice, and awareness level among healthcare professionals decades after the worldwide awareness program on glaucoma, such as the World Glaucoma Week celebration. We are surprised that healthcare workers still lack awareness of glaucoma. Although the attitude shown was enthusiastic, many professionals require repeated seminars and awareness programs to enhance healthcare professionals' knowledge and practice patterns to increase their awareness in the community.