Abstract
Purpose: To study the impact of world glaucoma week in increasing the awareness about glaucoma in a metropolitan city (Bangalore) of southern India.
Design: Prospective observational study.
Materials and Methods: Four hundred subjects, 100 subjects in the preawareness campaign and 300 subjects in the post awareness campaign, who attended the general outpatient department and glaucoma clinic of Nethradhama Superspeciality Eye hospital between February 2014and May 2014 were included in our study. The responses of subjects who completed a structured questionnaire regarding the awareness (heard of glaucoma) and knowledge (understanding of disease) of glaucoma was analysed.
Results: Four hundred subjects were recruited, among which 100 subjects were assessed for awareness in the preglaucoma campaign week (Group 1) and 300 subjects in the post glaucoma campaign month (Group 2). Methods employed to increase the awareness of glaucoma in our population were glaucoma week awareness programmes in TV, Newspapers radio and magazines. Females predominated in both the groups(group 1 –56% , group 2 -58%).Total no of patients attending glaucoma clinic for glaucoma check up significantly increased in group 2, compared to group 1 (33.3% and 12%, P

Key words: World glaucoma week, Glaucoma, Awareness, Knowledge