The Ophthalmic status manifestations of nutritional and lifestyle disorders of men in a peri urban community in Ghana

Abstract

Unhealthy conditions of eye/sight in poor communities in South-Saharan African countries are many and becoming a global concern. The aim of the study is to determine the lifestyle variables and their associations with unhealthy ophthalmic conditions of men in a peri-urban community in Ghana. The study was a cross-sectional; involving men aged ≥18 years of age. Data were gathered using WHO Stepwise questionnaires. Analyses included frequencies, Chi-squares, correlations and regressions. The participants were made up of 1449 men. The dietary intakes of vitamin A rich food were so low that they could not be represented quantitatively. About 71.0% of the men were habitual users of alcoholic beverages and 22.0% smoked tobacco. About 21.7% of men had Bitot’s spot while 4.3% had keratomalacia. The logistic regression analysis predicted that alcohol users were about twice more likely to suffer Bitot’s spot (p=0.20) while tobacco smokers were about 3 times and 13 times more likely to suffer from Bitot’s spot (p<0.01) and Keratomalacia (p<0.01) respectively, compared with nonsmokers in the study group. The prevalence of ophthalmic was considerable high. The lifestyle behaviours such as smoking were strongly correlated with Bitot’s spots and keratomalacia among the participating men.

Journal of Medical and Biomedical Sciences (2017) 6(1), 1-7

Keywords: Bitot’s spot, keratomalacia, Vitamin-A, Xerophthalmia