Barriers to Cataract Surgery Utilization Among Cataract Patients Attending Surgical Outreach Sites in Ethiopia: A Dual Center Study

Abstract

Background

Cataract is the leading cause of avoidable blindness globally and in Africa. Various barriers limit access of cataract blind individuals to cataract surgery. This study aimed to determine the barriers to cataract surgery utilization among cataract blind patients presenting to campaign sites in Ethiopia.

Methods

An institution-based cross-sectional design study was conducted to select 209 patients. The study was conducted from July to August 2020. A structured questionnaire was used to collect socio-demographic data and barriers for not having cataract surgery. Physical examination such as visual acuity, slit lamp bio microscopy and direct ophthalmoscopy was done for all participants. Epi Info 7 was used for data entry and Statistical Package for Social Science/SPSS version 23 was used for analysis after data were exported. Descriptive methods were employed for analysis.

Results

A total of 209 subjects were recruited in the study with a mean age of 64.2 (±14.6) years, with a range of 32–99 years. From the total study subjects, 53% were males and 40.2% were over 66 years old. Upon presentation to the campaign site, 33% of study subjects had visual acuity of operable eye under blindness category and half of the study subjects (50.2%) had mature cataract. The most reported barriers were waiting until cataract becomes mature (18.7%), fear of surgery complications (16.7%), far from eye health institution (16.4%) and lack of income/cost for surgery (11.5%).

Conclusion

Recognizing the severity and the blindness burden of cataract in Ethiopia, creating public awareness, establishing eye health institutions, increasing the number of eye health professionals, increasing the quantity and the quality of cataract campaigns to alleviate these barriers are of paramount importance at the country level.

Keywords:

• barriers
• cataract surgery utilization
• Ethiopia

Data Sharing Statement

The dataset used and or analyzed during this study is available from the corresponding author on a reasonable request from Zewdu Yenegeta (contact address: [email protected]).

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge all participants of the study who kindly volunteered to answer to the interview. Our gratitude also goes to data collectors for their tireless work during data collection.

Author Contributions

All authors made substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; took part in drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; agreed to submit to the current journal; gave final approval of the version to be published; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors declare that they have no competing interests in this work.