Knowledge, attitude, and practice about red eye among the general population visiting a tertiary care hospital in rural setting, Tamil Nadu, India.

Background: Red eye is a common symptom in patients visiting the ophthalmology outpatient department (OPD). However, not all with red eye are due to infection and some can be threatening to visual loss. This study aimed to explore the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) among the general public regarding red eye attending a tertiary care hospital, Tamil Nadu.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted after approval by the institutional ethics review board among 500 patients >18 years attending general OPD excluding ophthalmology in tertiary hospital and research institute, Tamil Nadu, from January 2022 to April 2022. After informed consent, a semi-structured questionnaire with details of KAP on red eye was used and analyzed with descriptive statistics and Chi-square test using SPSS version 16.

Results: Among the 500 participants, one-third were >60 years, 58%-females. Only 15.6% had awareness on red eye, 12.6% were aware of serious side effects while <10% knew the complication of red eye such as visual loss can follow if left untreated. Among those aware, 63% reported infection as the most common cause, followed by injury and allergy. Source of awareness was from past experience in the majority of the patients, followed by mass media and doctors. Only 12.4% had a positive attitude while 14.2% had good practice of seeking medical attention. Harmful practices such as instilling breast milk and instilling over-counter drops were highly prevalent. The major determinants of awareness were younger age, literacy, and health education given by health personnel (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: Awareness about red eye, attitude, and practice among the general population in rural settings in Tamil Nadu are still poor. The need of the hour is for health education on red eye and management to prevent morbidity and loss of vision in the community at all levels of health care.