Prevalence of traditional eye medicine use and associated factors among adult ophthalmic patients attending University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital-Tertiary Eye Care and Training Center, Northwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Abstract Background: Traditional eye medicines are a form of biologically based therapies, practices or partially processed organic or inorganic agents that are instilled or applied to the eye or administered orally to achieve a desired ocular therapeutic effect. Traditional eye medicine use has been associated with various complications including blindness. Complications occurred on the above half of the users.

Objective: To determine the prevalence and associated factors of Traditional Eye Medicine use among adult ophthalmic patients attending University of Gondar Comprehensive Specialized Hospital-Tertiary Eye Care and Training Center, Northwest Ethiopia, 2020 Methods: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted on 502 newly presenting adult ophthalmic patients who were selected by using a systemic random sampling method from June 22 to August 21, 2020. The data from the interview-based structured questionnaire was entered into Epi info 7 and analyzed by SPSS 20. Frequency and cross-tabulations were used for descriptive analysis. Associations between variables were analyzed using binary logistic regression through the enter method with a 95 % confidence interval. Result: A total of 502 subjects with a 93.1 % response rate have participated in the study. From total study subjects, 22.3 % (112) (95% CI: 19-26 %) were used traditional eye medicine in the past two years. Holy water was used by 36.8% of the users. 26.7% (30) of the traditional eye medicine use was for trauma on the eye. Above 35% of the delivery was done by the patients themselves and Belief in potency was cited by 42.6% of the users as a reason for use. Residing in a rural area (AOR=24.96(95% CI: 10.4359.71)), average monthly family income of 300-1,500 (AOR =6.57(95% CI: 1.88-22.98)),

positive

family history of traditional eye medicine use (AOR=11.11(95% CI: 4.8325.56)),

availability of traditional healers (AOR=3.72(95% CI: 1.61-8.60), 6 weeks to 6 month time of presentation to the eye care center (AOR=4.98(95% CI: 1.87-13.28)) and 6 months and above (AOR=8.46(95% CI: 3.02-23.68) were significantly associated with traditional eye medicine use. Conclusion and recommendation: Significant proportion of adult ophthalmic patients use traditional eye medicine before presenting to an ophthalmic health facility. Holy water was the most common form used. Most of the history of use was for trauma on the eye. Most of the delivery was done by the patients themselves. Belief in potency was the most frequently cited reason for use. Residing in a rural, low average family monthly income, late presentation to the eye care center, availability of traditional healer, and positive family history of traditional eye medicine use had a significant association with traditional eye medicine use. It is better to incorporate traditional healers in the health care referral system and to make the eye care service affordable for the low income community. Key words: Prevalence, Traditional Healer, Traditional Eye Medicine, Ethiopia, Gondar