Abstract

Background: Cataracts, commonly understood as a cloudy crystalline lens, are certainly a public health issue popular with aging populations due to common risk factors that include increased age, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and glucocorticoids, which are reported to have a connection with increased incidences of cataracts and ocular complications in association.
Methodology: The study itself is a cross-sectional study in the Jazan Region, Saudi Arabia, which aimed at assessing awareness about cataracts due to chronic steroids. Data were collected through an online questionnaire and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 29.
Results: The total number of participants who took part in the research was found to be 424 with more than half being females (57.8%, n = 245), with the majority of them having ages within the range of 18-25 years (47.2%, n = 200). Most of the participants (74.8%) indicated that they had never used any steroid, while 107 participants were steroid users in which majority used steroids topically (62.6%, n = 67). Knowledge about cataracts was varied where 85.1% were able to indicate its relation with deterioration in vision and 64.7% indicating topically as a steroid being a common cause. The overall mean knowledge score was found to be 9/12 (SD = 3). The study revealed significant gender-age and education-wise differences in knowledge but had lower levels of information for long-term corticosteroid users (p = 0.004). Hence, being a woman and being aged between 36 and 45 years compared with men and younger ones were found to have increased odds of being well knowledgeable, whereas long-term steroid users showed significantly reduced odds in knowledge (OR = 0.418 and p = 0.002).
Conclusion: According to this study, 52.4% of participants had good knowledge about cataracts associated with steroid risk factors, while gender, age, and long-term use had significant effects on knowledge levels. Surprisingly, more people were recommended to adopt specific educational interventions, campaigns, work shops, and community outreach.

Key words: cataract, steroid, opacity, Saudi Arabia, Jazan