Prevalence and associated factors of symptomatic dry eye among undergraduate students in Hawassa University College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Hawassa, Ethiopia

Abstract

ObjectiveThis study aimed to assess the prevalence and associated factors of symptomatic dry eye (SDE) among undergraduate students at the College of Medicine and Health Science, Hawassa University, Ethiopia.Methods and analysisInstitution-based cross-sectional study was conducted using a systematic random sampling technique. A total of 311 undergraduate students were recruited to execute the study. Ethical clearance was obtained from the ethical review committee of the school of Medicine and Health Science. A standardised self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. Data were entered using Epi Info V.7 and cleaned and analysed using SPSS V.23. Binary and multivariable logistic regression analysis was done to select candidate variables and to identify statistically significant factors. Variables with a p value of <0.05 on multivariable analysis were reported as statistically significant.Results and conclusionThe overall prevalence of SDE was found to be 49.4% (95% CI 43.7% to 55.1%). In this study, the history of ophthalmic drop use (adjusted OR, AOR 2.063; 95% CI 1.073 to 3.957) and being second (AOR 5.99; 95% CI 1.10 to 32.56) and third (AOR 11.55; 95% CI 2.12 to 62.94) year student were factors that significantly associated with SDE.In this study, the prevalence of SDE was significantly high. The factors associated with SDE were the use of ophthalmic drops and the class year of students. Therefore, public health education about protective measures should be considered to minimise the effects of SDE on the quality of life of students.

Symptomatic Dry Eye Disease and Associated Factors Among Adult Diabetic Patients in Adare General Hospital, Hawassa City, Southern Ethiopia, 2023

“…5 Evidence has shown that the increasing number of diabetic patients worldwide is one of the contributing factors to increase the prevalence of symptomatic dry eye, 6 and the prevalence of dry eye disease in diabetics ranges from 20.6% to 54.3%. [7][8][9][10] In Ethiopia, the prevalence of symptomatic dry eye was 50.5% on postgraduate students in University of Gondar, 11 49.5% on undergraduate students in Hawassa University 12 and 43% on Glaucoma patients in Menelik II tertiary hospital. 13 Although the prevalence of diabetes mellitus in Ethiopia was 6.5%, 14 there was no study that showed the prevalence of symptomatic dry eye among diabetic patients.…”