Retrospective Study of Sociodemographic Characteristics of Patients Attending Trachomatous Trichiasis Surgery in Ophthalmology Department of JUSH

Abstract

Background: It is well known that tarsatomy has great contribution in preventing blindness caused by trichiasis. But there is low uptake of surgery in many endemic countries. Many researches have been undertaken to find out what social and economical factors are involved for low utilization of the surgery. This study aims to find out the Sociodemographic characteristics of patients who got trichiasis surgery in ophthalmology department of Jimma University Specialized Hospital. Objective: To assess the sex, age and location characteristics of trichiasis surgery users in Ophthalmology Department of JUSH. Method: All patients who underwent trichiasis surgery from January 2010 to December 2012 were included in the study. Pertinent data required about these patients were collected from the patient's register book kept by the ophthalmology department of JUSH. The data was analyzed manually and by scientific calculator and presented by tables. Result: A total of 1,176 patients, who had trachomatous trichiasis surgery in Ophthalmology Department of JUSH, were incorporated in the study. Majority were 803 (68.3%) were females. About 56% of total patients are in the age of 30-60 years. Of the total patients 23 (2%) of the patients were under 15 years of age. Greater part of patients was within 20 km radius constituting 53% of the total. Generally there is a gradual decrease of attendance number as the distance of their location from the hospital increases.II Conclusion and Recommendation: The majority of patients that were using the service were females. This finding is in stark contrast with other studies done in other parts of the country, which showed high proportion of male users compared with females. This might reflect increased awareness on the part of women and existence of gender equity. But the real reason for higher utilization of females in this area should further be investigated through another community based study. It has been shown that when patients are close to the service the surgical uptake increases. Thus taking the service close to the community should be considered to achieve the goal of SAFE. This creates opportunity to elderly (>60 years of age) who are unable to travel long distances and always requires the assistance of someone else.