NUTRITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICES AMONG CATARACT PATIENTS ATTENDING SABATIA EYE HOSPITAL, KENYA

Enid Keseko, Jane Situma, Asenath Sigot

Abstract


Introduction: According to WHO, cataract is the leading cause of blindness and visual impairment globally. Cataract induces damage to the eye through mechanisms like oxidative stress. Antioxidants are the first line of defense against oxidative stress and are primarily obtained through diet. High intake of food sources of antioxidants has a protective association with the incidence and progression of cataract while poor intake of foods rich in antioxidants has a negative association with the incidence and the progression of cataract. Purpose: To establish nutritional knowledge and practices among cataract patients attending Sabatia Eye Hospital, Kenya. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample size of 144 patients and the study area and study population were purposively selected. Using a structured questionnaire, data was collected on demographic and socio-economic characteristics, nutritional knowledge and nutritional practices among the patients. Data collected was subjected to analysis using Social Package for Statistical Sciences version 20 and presented using tables and figures. Results: The study findings showed that 59% (n=85) of the respondents were female and the most represented age group was 60 years and above with a frequency of n=116 (80.6%). Almost half of the respondents (n=69, 47.9%) attained only primary school education followed by 20.1% (n=29) who attained secondary education. The main source of income for most of the respondents (n=68, 47.2%) was farming and 49.3% (n=71) received less than 5,000 shillings per month. The mean score on knowledge (56.1) was used as the knowledge threshold to put patients into two levels: below average and above average. Less than half, 42.4% (n=61) scored above average on knowledge. In terms of practices, the most frequently consumed antioxidant rich food source was green leafy vegetables consumed by about 66.7% (n=96) at a frequency of once per day. The most consumed source of fiber was whole grains by 82.6% (n=119) patients, consumed once per day. The average individual dietary diversity score was moderate; 6.5 with the most consumed food group being cereals. However, antioxidant rich food groups had the least scores in the dietary diversity. The use of nutrient supplements was poorly reported with about 93.8% (n=135) indicating that they never use nutrient supplements. Conclusion: The study concluded that the patients’ nutritional knowledge exists but not to all and the frequency of consumption and the diet diversity of antioxidant rich foods is low. Based on the findings, the study recommended for sensitization on frequency of intake of antioxidant food sources to be done at the community and hospital level through a multidisciplinary approach.

 

Article visualizations:

Hit counter

DOI

Keywords


nutrition, cataract, knowledge and practices

Full Text:

PDF

References


Aboobaker S. Courtright P. (2016). Barriers to cataract surgery in Africa: a systematic

review. Middle East Afr J Ophthalmol; 23,145–149.

Alfredo et al. (2017). The influence of Mediterranean diet on the incidence of cataract surgery. Nutrients, 9, 453.

Andrea Braakhuis, Ryan Raman, Ehsan Vagheti. (2017). The association between dietary intake of antioxidants and ocular disease. Diseases, 5, 3

Appleby P. N., Allen N. E., Key T. J. (2011). Diet, vegetarianism, and cataract

risk. Am J Clin Nutr; 93(5), 1128–35.

Bernstein M. A., Tucker K. L., Ryan N. D., O'Neill E. F., Clements K. M., et al.

(2002). Higher dietary variety is associated with better nutritional

status in frail elderly people. J Am Diet Assoc 102, 1096-1104.

Bohn, T. (2008). Bioavailability of non-provitamin A carotenoids. Curr. Nutr. Food Sci; 4, 240–258

Cao G., Booth S. L., Sadowski J. A., Prior R. L. (1998). Increases in plasma human antioxidant capacity after consumption of controlled diets high in fruit and vegetables. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 68, 1081-1087.

Chang, D. F., Jessica, R. Koo, E., Agron, E., Hallak, J., Clemons, T., (2011). Risk Factors Associated with Incident Cataracts and Cataract Surgery in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS): AREDS Report Number 32. Ophthalmology, (11), 118.

Chasan-Taber L., Willett W. C., Seddon J. M., Stampfer M. J., Rosner B., Colditz G. A., Speizer F. E., Hankinson S. E. (1999). A prospective study of carotenoid and vitamin A intakes and risk of cataract extraction in US women. Am J Clin Nutr 70, 509–516.

Chew, E. Y., Treci Clemons et al. (2012). The Age Related Eye Disease study 2 (AREDS 2): Study design and Baseline Characteristics (AREDS2 Report Number 1). Ophthamology; 119(11), 2282-2289.

Chiu C. J., Morris M. S., Rogers G., Jacques P. F., Chylack L. J., Tung W., et

al. (2005). Carbohydrate intake and glycemic index in relation to the

odds of early cortical and nuclear lens opacities. Am J Clin Nutr; 81(6),1411–6.

Christen W. G., Glynn R. J., Manson J. E., MacFadyen J., Bubes V., Schvartz M., Buring J. E., Sesso H. D., Gaziano J.M., (2014). Effects of multivitamin supplement on cataract and age-related macular degeneration in a randomized trial of male physicians. Ophthalmology; 121(2),525-34.

Glaser T. S., Doss L. E., Shih G., Nigam D., Sperduto R. D., Ferris, Frederick L.,,III, Agron E., Clemons T. E., Chew E. Y., (2015). Age-Related Eye Disease Study Res. The association of dietary lutein plus zeaxanthin and B vitamins with cataracts in the age-related eye disease study AREDS report no. 37. Ophthalmology, 122(7), 1471-9.

Habte T. Y., Krawinkel M. (2016). Dietary Diversity Score: A Measure of Nutritional Adequacy or an indicator of Healthy Diet? J Nutr Health Sci; 3(3), 303.

Handleman, G. H. Nightingale, Z. D. Lichtenstein, A. H.; Schaefer, E. J.; Blumberg, J. P, (1999). Lutein and zeaxnathin concentrations in plasm after dietary supplementation with egg yolk. Am. J. Clin. Nutr; 70, 247–251.

Hong T., Mitchell P., Burlutsky G., et al. (2015). Visual impairment and depressive

symptoms in an older Australian cohort: longitudinal findings from the Blue

Mountains Eye Study. Br J Ophthalmol, 99, 1017–1021.

Jeruszka-Bielak M., Kollajtis-Dolowy A., Santoro A., Ostan R., Berendsen A. A. M., Jennings A., Meunier N., Marseglia A., Caumon E., Gillings R., de Groot L. C. P. G. M., Franceschi C., Hieke S. and Pietruszka B. (2018) Are Nutrition-Related Knowledge and Attitudes Reflected in Lifestyle and Health Among Elderly People? A Study across Five European Countries. Front. Physiol. 9, 994.

Kaur et al., (2017). Nutraceuticals in prevention of cataract. An evidence based approach. Saudi Journal of Ophthalmology 31, 30-37.

Khairallah M., Kahloun R., Bourne R., et al. (2015). For the Vision Loss Expert Group of

the Global Burden of Disease Study. Number of people blind or visually

impaired by cataract worldwide and in world regions, 1990 to 2010. Invest

Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 56:6762–6769.

Kigaru et al. (2015). Nutrition knowledge, attitude and practices among urban primary school children in Nairobi City, Kenya: a KAP study, BMC Nutrition 1:44

Lee Cameron M. and Natalie Afshari (2017). The global state of cataract blindness. Curr Opin Ophthalmol, 28:98-103.

Lewallen et al. (2015). Factors affecting cataract surgical outcomes: a retrospective cross-sectional study of eye health systems in sub-Saharan Africa. BMC Ophthalmology 15:67.

Mamatha, B. S., & Nidhi, B. (2015). Original Article Risk Factors for Nuclear and Cortical Cataracts : A Hospital Based Study. 243–249.

Mathemge et al (2007). Rapid assessment of avoidable blindness in Nakuru District, Kenya. Ophthalmology, 114(3): 599-605.

McCullough M. L., Feskanich D., Stampfer M. J., Giovannucci E. L., Rimm E. B., Hu

F. B., et al. (2002): Diet quality and major chronic disease risk in men and women:

moving toward improved dietary guidance. Am J Clin Nutr; 76:1261–1271.

Moeller S. M., Taylor A., Tucker K. L., McCullough M. L., Chylack L. J., Hankinson S. E., et al. (2004). Overall adherence to the dietary guidelines for Americans is associated with reduced prevalence of early age-related nuclear lens opacities in women. J Nutr; 134(7):1812–9.

Moustafa et al. (2015). Assessment of knowledge regarding cataract among Saudi adult population in Makkah city, Saudi Arabia. Int J Med Sci Public Health, 4: 595-599

Muthike C. W., Imungi J. and G. Muchemi (2015). Nutritional knowledge and dietary diversity of cancer patients at the cancer treatment center, Kenyatta National Hospital, Kenya. AJFAND. 15(5): 10506-10521.

Naidoo K., Gichuhi S., Besanez M.-G. et al. (2014). Prevalence and cause of vision loss in sub-Saharan Africa: 1990-2012 Br J Ophthalmol, 98: 612-618.

Nirmalan P. K., A. L. Robin, J. Katz, J. M. Tielsch, R. D. Thulasiraj, R. Krishnadas, R. Ramakrishnan (2004). Risk factors for age related cataract in a rural population of southern India: the Aravind Comprehensive Eye Study Br J Ophthalmol, 88:989–994.

Raman R., Vaghefi, E., Brakhuis A. J. (2016). Food components and ocular pathophysiology; A critical appraisal of the role oxidative mechanisms (in press). Asia Pac. J. Clin. Nutr.

Rathnayake et al. (2012). BMC Research Notes, 5:469.

Rautiainen, S., Lindblad, B. E.. Morgenstern, R. Wolk, A. (2014). Total antioxidant capacity of the diet and risk of age related cataract: A population-based prospective cohort of women. JAMA Ophthalmol; 132; 247-252.

Rius A., Lansingh V. C., Valencia L. G., et al. (2012). Social inequalities in blindness and

visual impairment: a review of social determinants. Indian J Ophthalmol;

:368–375.

Theodoropoulou S., Samoli E., Theodossiadis P. G., Papathanassiou M., Lagiou A., Lagiou P., Tzonou A. (2014). Diet and cataract: a case-control study. Int J Ophthalmol, 34(1):59-68.

Vinson J. A., Dabbagh Y. A., Serry M. M., Jang J. (1995). Plant flavonoids,

especially tea flavonols, are powerful antioxidants using an

in vitro oxidation model for heart disease. J Agric Food Chem; 43(11):2800–2.

Wahome E., Kiboi W. (2016). Nutritional knowledge and nutritional status of diabetes

type 2 patients in kikuyu mission hospital, Nairobi, Kenya. Int J Health Sci Res. 2; 6(10):229-234.

World Health Organization. (2010). Global data on visual impairments. Retrieved from: http://www.who.int/blindness/GLOBALDATAFINALforweb.pdf

Worsley, Anthony (2002). Nutrition knowledge and food consumption: can nutrition knowledge change food behaviour? Asia Pacific journal of clinical nutrition, vol. 11, no. Supp. 3, pp. S 579-S 585.

Yan Sheng, Fan He, Jun-Fen Lin, Wei Shen, and Yin-Wei Qiu. (2016). Tea and Risk of Age-Related Cataracts: A Cross-Sectional Study in Zhejiang Province. China J Epidemiol; 26(11):587-592.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2019 Enid Keseko, Jane Situma, Asenath Sigot

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Copyright © 2019 - 2023. European Journal of Public Health Studies (ISSN 2668-1056/ISSN-L 2668-1056) is a registered trademark of Open Access Publishing Group. All rights reserved.

This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library. All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms. All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and standards formulated by Budapest Open Access Initiative (2002), the Bethesda Statement on Open Access Publishing (2003) and Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities (2003) and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Copyrights of the published research works are retained by authors.