Blindness in the World

Parents' Awareness and Attitude Toward Pediatrics Eye Diseases in Makkah, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND

The necessity of early detection and parents' knowledge of pediatric eye conditions and eye care is crucial, not only because of the severe complications it can carry, like blindness, but also due to the availability of preventive measures and the importance of vision in a child's growth and social life. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the level of awareness of and attitudes toward children's eye diseases of parents in Makkah City, Saudi Arabia.

METHODS

 This descriptive, cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, from September to December 2022. A self-administered questionnaire was randomly distributed to fathers and mothers of children younger than 18 through social media platforms.

RESULTS

 A total of 470 parents who met the study's inclusion criteria completed the study questionnaire. The results showed that 72.8% of the parents had poor awareness of pediatric eye diseases, 24.5% had good awareness, and 2.8% had excellent awareness. With regard to the symptoms that might prompt parents to take their children to an eye specialist, eye redness had the highest percentage (24.5%). It was also shown that 68.5% would allow their children to undergo eye surgery, if necessary, while most of those who refused to do so (11.3%) cited fear of the surgical outcome as the cause of their refusal.

CONCLUSION

 Our study findings show inadequate parental knowledge about common pediatric eye diseases and eye care practices for children. Therefore, awareness and education programs targeting both parents are recommended to raise the parents' level of awareness of pediatric eye diseases and to improve their attitudes toward the same.

[Predictive value of preoperative tests in facectomy]

OBJECTIVE

To establish the prevalence of abnormal results in routine preoperative tests prior to facectomies and whether they influence the occurrence of perioperative clinical complications.

METHODS

This prospective study was developed in an academic medical center in Brazil. Besides a clinical evaluation, all patients were requested to undergo an electrocardiogram, complete blood work and fasting blood glucose test. Patients younger than 40 years of age who had had previous eye surgery, candidates for general anesthesia or who had suffered acute myocardial infarction up to three months before surgery were excluded from the study. Intraoperative medical events were recorded in a protocol form. Analysis was carried out using Fisher's test and ANOVA (analysis of variance).

RESULTS

The sample was composed of 746 patients, 405 (54.3%) were men. The average age was 66.6+/-11.6 years. Intraoperative complications occurred in 71 (9.5%) patients. There were abnormal results in 13.5% (101 patients) of hemoglobin dosages and in 16.6% (124) of fasting blood glucose. As for electrocardiograms, abnormalities were found in 46.6% (348) of the subjects. There was a higher prevalence of electrocardiograms with abnormal values in patients who had perioperative clinical complications (p=0.02). There were no statistically significant differences between hemoglobin dosages (14.0+/-1.6 g/dL in patients without intraoperative complications and 14.3+/-1.3 g/dL in patients with complications - p=0.150) and fasting blood glucose (104+/-29 mg/dL in patients without complications and 105+/-41 mg/dL in patients with complications - p=0.850).

CONCLUSIONS

Within the investigated routine of preoperative testing for facectomy, only the abnormal electrocardiogram results influenced the occurrence of complications in the perioperative period.