Awareness on Eye Donation in the North-eastern State of Tripura, India – The Tripura Eye Survey

ABSTRACT

Purpose

To determine the awareness on eye donation and willingness to pledge eyes for donation among the population aged ≥40 years in the northeastern state of Tripura, India.

Methods

A population-based cross-sectional study was carried out among 2,500 participants. The investigators conducted a detailed interview on awareness of eye donation and willingness to pledge eyes for donation. ‘Awareness’ was defined as having heard about eye donation. Those who reported awareness of eye donation were asked a question on willingness to pledge their eyes.

Results

A total of 2,440/2,500 (97.6%) participants responded to the questionnaire. Among these, 1,216 (49.8%) participants were men, and 859 (35.2%) had no education. The mean age of the participants was 54.7 years (standard deviation:12.1 years). Overall, 61.4% (95% CI:59.5–63.4; n = 1,499) reported awareness of eye donation; of those only 3.8% (95% CI:2.9–4.9; n = 57) were willing to pledge their eyes for donation. On multivariable analyses, the odds of awareness were higher among those who had school education (OR:2.12; 95% CI: 1.73–2.56) or higher education (OR:11.79; 95% CI:7.35–18.93). Deformity associated with eye donation (n = 327;76.9%) followed by religious reasons (n = 63; 14.8%) and a belief that those who donate eye are ‘born blind in the next birth’ (n = 23; 5.4%) were the main reasons for lack of willingness to pledge their eyes for donation.

Conclusions

Although the awareness regarding eye donation was satisfactory, there was lack of willingness to pledge eyes for donation. There is a need for focussed information, education, and communication campaigns to encourage eye donation in Tripura.

KEYWORDS:

• Corneal blindness
• population-based study
• rapid assessment methods
• Tripura
• India

Acknowledgments

LVPEI gratefully acknowledges the support of the National Health Mission (Drs. Sandeep Mahatme and Shailesh K Yadav), and Mr. M. Nagaraju, Government of Tripura in conducting the study. We are grateful to the IL&FS team led by Mr. Samit Banik. The efforts of the team of optometrists, Goutam Deb, Anitesh Debbarma, James Debbarma, Jayasree Dey, and Jayanta Das deputed by National Health Mission for the data collection are acknowledged for their contribution to the study. We also thank the people of Tripura who actively participated in the study.

Disclosure Statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest and have no proprietary interest in any of the materials mentioned in this article.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded by the National Health Mission, the Government of Tripura and Hyderabad Eye Research Foundation, India. Government of Tripura, India