Knowledge, attitude and perception about eye health among TB patients visiting the OPD Mulago National Referral Hospital, Kampala District, Uganda

Abstract

Globally, more than 1.7 billion people are estimated to be infected with TB, it is the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent and a leading cause of death among persons with immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. It is important to recognize ocular TB as a clinical manifestation of extra pulmonary TB. A timely diagnosis can lead to early initiation of anti- tuberculosis therapy (ATT) and prevent poor patient outcomes. To assess the knowledge, attitude and perception of eye health among TB patients visiting theOPD at Mulago national referral hospital. This was a quantitative study targeting TB patients attending the OPD at Mulago national referral hospital, Kampala district, Uganda aged 18 years and above. Simple random sampling method was used to select the study participants and 266 patients were recruited. A questionnaire was used in data collection process. Data analysis was done using SPSS data analysis tool. Data collection commenced after approval by the school of health sciences research and ethics committee at Makerere University (MakSHSREC) and informed consent was obtained from TB patients attending the OPD at Mulago national referral hospital before their participation in thestudy. A total of 266 TB patients participated in the study giving a response rate of 100%. Most of the respondents were male (63.5%) ranging in the age category of 26-39(41.7%). For the marital status, majority of the respondents were single (68%) and belonging to the Christianity religion (45.5%). From the findings, majority of the respondents 72.6% indicated that they hardly seek for eye care services, 27.4% indicated that they sometimes seek for them and none of the TB patients indicated that he always or frequently seek for these services. In both time durations, majority of the respondents indicated that they have never experienced such eye conditions symptoms especially blurry vision, floaters/flashes and decreased side vision. From the findings, majority of the respondents 45.5% agreed that someone can lose sight due to eye TB involvement while 18% did not know, 41% of the respondents disagreed that they could identify an eye TB sufferer by sight while 27.1% indicated that they did not know, 36.5% agreed that everyone should be concerned about eye involvement of TB when symptoms are severe while 9% indicated they did not know, 59% agreed that any person is in danger of getting eye TB involvement while 9% indicated they did not know, 77.4% strongly agreed that eye TB awareness helps one to avoid developing it, 59% strongly agreed that one could only know that they have eye TB involvement after seeing an eye specialist and 68.4% strongly agreed that ocular TB could be prevented. The research study revealed limited awareness and understanding of ocular tuberculosis among tuberculosis (TB) patients attending the Outpatient Department at Mulago National Referral Hospital. The majority of respondents indicated that they had hardly ever heard of ocular involvement of TB and had not experienced visual changes since starting TB medication. However, ocular manifestations of TB, including conditions such as uveitis and episcleritis, can lead to a decrease in vision and other eye complications. To conclude, addressing the gaps in knowledge, promoting regular eye care visits, and improving interdisciplinary collaboration are crucial for preventing and managing ocular tuberculosis effectively among TB patients attending the Mulago National Referral Hospital