ISSN 0886-3067

Volume No 34 Issue No 2

Dropout of Newly Diagnosed Glaucoma Patient from Follow-up Schedule

Purpose: To evaluate the impact of verbal counseling alone and verbal with structured written counseling in prevention of drop out of glaucoma patients from follow-up schedule. Study Design: Descriptive study. Place and duration of study: Green Eye Hospital Dhaka, Bangladesh for 18 months, from July 2015 to December 2016. Material & Methods: During the study period, 300 newly diagnosed glaucoma patients were enrolled. They were divided into two groups. Group: A & B. Each group comprised of 150 patients. Group: A patients were verbally counseled and structured written counseling brochures were given and Group: B patients were counseled only verbally. Results: We compared the dropout during follow-up between the two groups. There was significant difference between the two groups (The chi-square statistics was 9.8182. The p value was 0.001728). Moreover, the drop out of elderly patients (>50 years) was less than the patients with < 50 years of age. When there was positive family history of glaucoma dropout was significantly less. In group: A, (p-value was 0.029932, in group B, p value was 0.00011 using chi square test). Conclusion: Drop out during follow up in newly diagnosed glaucoma patients is less if they are given written brochures with verbal counselling. Drop out of elderly glaucoma patients is lesser than the younger age group. Key words: Glaucoma, glaucoma counseling, intra ocular pressure