Background: Traditional eye medication (TEM) is common in Sub-Saharan Africa especially as it is part of the well practiced Traditional Alternate and Complementary Medicine. Despite several observed harmful effects and documented ocular morbidity from TEM, and the fact that the TEMs have no scientific background to their use, they are applied to the eyes as medication. This study is to look at the demographics of the patients with a history of TEM use presenting to a private clinic in South East Nigeria, with a view of targeted health education and promotion. Method: A retrospective review of patients’ hospital records, seen in Anya Specialist Eye Clinic, Umuahia Abia State Nigeria, between January 2019 and June 2020 was done. Data from patients’ records who self-reported to have used Harmful/Traditional Eye Medications before presentation at the clinic, during the period under consideration were selected, and their social/demographic characteristics extracted. Results: A total of 42 subjects with TEM use were recorded. There were 27 males (64.3%) and 15 females (35.7%) with age range from 0 to 70 years. Their educational levels were; no formal education (26.1%), primary (24%), secondary (28.5%) and tertiary (21.5%). More than 57% of the subjects were peasant farmers or unemployed, while 24%, 4.7%, 4.7% and 2.4% were traders, students, retired civil servants and teachers respectively. Conclusion: Farmers and unemployed subjects were more likely to use harmful TEM than other occupations. Surprisingly educational level did not significantly influence the rate of use of TEM. The assumption that individuals with higher educational status have a lower risk of TEM use may be erroneous. There should be an increase in awareness of the dangers of TEM use to the general public.
| Published in | International Journal of Ophthalmology & Visual Science (Volume 5, Issue 3) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ijovs.20200503.13 |
| Page(s) | 80-83 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Copyright |
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Traditional Eye Medication, Demographics, South East Nigeria, Umuahia
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APA Style
Kalu Anya, Nwachukwu Kennedy Ugo, Otuka Olufunmi Ijeoma, Eweputanna Lisa. (2020). Demographics of Patients Using Harmful/Traditional Eye Medications in Anya Specialist Eye Clinic, Umuahia, South East Nigeria. International Journal of Ophthalmology & Visual Science, 5(3), 80-83. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijovs.20200503.13
ACS Style
Kalu Anya; Nwachukwu Kennedy Ugo; Otuka Olufunmi Ijeoma; Eweputanna Lisa. Demographics of Patients Using Harmful/Traditional Eye Medications in Anya Specialist Eye Clinic, Umuahia, South East Nigeria. Int. J. Ophthalmol. Vis. Sci. 2020, 5(3), 80-83. doi: 10.11648/j.ijovs.20200503.13
AMA Style
Kalu Anya, Nwachukwu Kennedy Ugo, Otuka Olufunmi Ijeoma, Eweputanna Lisa. Demographics of Patients Using Harmful/Traditional Eye Medications in Anya Specialist Eye Clinic, Umuahia, South East Nigeria. Int J Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2020;5(3):80-83. doi: 10.11648/j.ijovs.20200503.13
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Download@article{10.11648/j.ijovs.20200503.13,
author = {Kalu Anya and Nwachukwu Kennedy Ugo and Otuka Olufunmi Ijeoma and Eweputanna Lisa},
title = {Demographics of Patients Using Harmful/Traditional Eye Medications in Anya Specialist Eye Clinic, Umuahia, South East Nigeria},
journal = {International Journal of Ophthalmology & Visual Science},
volume = {5},
number = {3},
pages = {80-83},
doi = {10.11648/j.ijovs.20200503.13},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijovs.20200503.13},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijovs.20200503.13},
abstract = {Background: Traditional eye medication (TEM) is common in Sub-Saharan Africa especially as it is part of the well practiced Traditional Alternate and Complementary Medicine. Despite several observed harmful effects and documented ocular morbidity from TEM, and the fact that the TEMs have no scientific background to their use, they are applied to the eyes as medication. This study is to look at the demographics of the patients with a history of TEM use presenting to a private clinic in South East Nigeria, with a view of targeted health education and promotion. Method: A retrospective review of patients’ hospital records, seen in Anya Specialist Eye Clinic, Umuahia Abia State Nigeria, between January 2019 and June 2020 was done. Data from patients’ records who self-reported to have used Harmful/Traditional Eye Medications before presentation at the clinic, during the period under consideration were selected, and their social/demographic characteristics extracted. Results: A total of 42 subjects with TEM use were recorded. There were 27 males (64.3%) and 15 females (35.7%) with age range from 0 to 70 years. Their educational levels were; no formal education (26.1%), primary (24%), secondary (28.5%) and tertiary (21.5%). More than 57% of the subjects were peasant farmers or unemployed, while 24%, 4.7%, 4.7% and 2.4% were traders, students, retired civil servants and teachers respectively. Conclusion: Farmers and unemployed subjects were more likely to use harmful TEM than other occupations. Surprisingly educational level did not significantly influence the rate of use of TEM. The assumption that individuals with higher educational status have a lower risk of TEM use may be erroneous. There should be an increase in awareness of the dangers of TEM use to the general public.},
year = {2020}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Demographics of Patients Using Harmful/Traditional Eye Medications in Anya Specialist Eye Clinic, Umuahia, South East Nigeria AU - Kalu Anya AU - Nwachukwu Kennedy Ugo AU - Otuka Olufunmi Ijeoma AU - Eweputanna Lisa Y1 - 2020/10/12 PY - 2020 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijovs.20200503.13 DO - 10.11648/j.ijovs.20200503.13 T2 - International Journal of Ophthalmology & Visual Science JF - International Journal of Ophthalmology & Visual Science JO - International Journal of Ophthalmology & Visual Science SP - 80 EP - 83 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2637-3858 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijovs.20200503.13 AB - Background: Traditional eye medication (TEM) is common in Sub-Saharan Africa especially as it is part of the well practiced Traditional Alternate and Complementary Medicine. Despite several observed harmful effects and documented ocular morbidity from TEM, and the fact that the TEMs have no scientific background to their use, they are applied to the eyes as medication. This study is to look at the demographics of the patients with a history of TEM use presenting to a private clinic in South East Nigeria, with a view of targeted health education and promotion. Method: A retrospective review of patients’ hospital records, seen in Anya Specialist Eye Clinic, Umuahia Abia State Nigeria, between January 2019 and June 2020 was done. Data from patients’ records who self-reported to have used Harmful/Traditional Eye Medications before presentation at the clinic, during the period under consideration were selected, and their social/demographic characteristics extracted. Results: A total of 42 subjects with TEM use were recorded. There were 27 males (64.3%) and 15 females (35.7%) with age range from 0 to 70 years. Their educational levels were; no formal education (26.1%), primary (24%), secondary (28.5%) and tertiary (21.5%). More than 57% of the subjects were peasant farmers or unemployed, while 24%, 4.7%, 4.7% and 2.4% were traders, students, retired civil servants and teachers respectively. Conclusion: Farmers and unemployed subjects were more likely to use harmful TEM than other occupations. Surprisingly educational level did not significantly influence the rate of use of TEM. The assumption that individuals with higher educational status have a lower risk of TEM use may be erroneous. There should be an increase in awareness of the dangers of TEM use to the general public. VL - 5 IS - 3 ER -
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