Eye care service utilization and associated factors among older adults in Hawassa city, South Ethiopia

PURPOSE: The study aimed to assess the proportion of eye care service utilization and associated factors among older adults age ≥ 40 years in Hawassa city, South Ethiopia, June 2019. METHOD: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among adults aged 40 years and above who permanently live in Hawassa city from April 25 to May 30, 2019. Multistage sampling technique was used to select 704 participants. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data. The collected data was entered to EPI info version 7 & was analyzed by SPSS version 20. Binary logistic regression model was used to identify actual predictors of eye care service utilization. All variables were entered to multivariable analysis and variables with p-value < 0.05 were considered as statistically significant. RESULT: A total of 668 adults participated with a response rate of 94.9%. The median (±IQR) age of study respondents was 48(±10) years and 52.7% were females. The proportion of eye care service utilization within the past 2 years was found to be 23.8% [95% CI: 20.5%-27.1%]. Having history of eye disease [AOR = 9.8, 95% CI: 6.1–15.6], having awareness of regular eye checkup importance [AOR = 7.3, 95% CI:4.4–12.2], older age (age ≥65 years) [AOR = 5.0, 95% CI:1.9–13.3] and higher family monthly income (income ≥6000 ETB) [AOR = 3.0, 95% CI:1.5–5.7] and income 4001–5999 ETB [AOR = 2.9, 95% CI: 1.4–5.9] were positively associated with eye care service utilization. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION: The proportion of eye care service utilization among older adults in Hawassa city was low. Having a history of eye disease, having awareness about regular eye checkup importance, older age and higher family monthly income were significantly associated with utilization of eye care service. Therefore, it is recommended to provide eye health education for the community to increase awareness about eye care service utilization which can improve eye care service utilization.