Level of knowledge about glaucoma in Vienna

Summary Background Glaucoma is a chronic and serious disease calling for consistent lifelong therapy. The patient’s compliance requires that he/she be well informed about the disease. The purpose of the present study was to determine the level of knowledge about glaucoma, and compare young patients with older ones as well as glaucoma patients with nonglaucoma ones. Methods A total of 1110 questionnaires were distributed to patients and their relatives at the outpatient eye clinic of Hietzing Hospital (Vienna), of which 1041 were returned. The questionnaire comprised 18 questions. Patients were divided into two groups: group 1 consisted of those aged 18–60 years, while group 2 consisted of those older than 61 years. Results In total, 941 questionnaires were evaluated; 72.8 % of the respondents were older than 60 years, and one-half of the respondents had glaucoma (51 %). The majority of patients had “moderate knowledge” of the disease (41.87 %), followed by “poor knowledge” (32.52 %). Glaucoma patients had considerably better knowledge of the disease ( p