Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Ear Care in Coastal Karnataka
Introduction: Ear as an organ is necessary for the perception of sound and body balance. Ear infection, diabetes mellitus, hypertension and excessive use of mobile phone for listening to music at high volume all can reduce hearing. No earlier study was available in the costal Karnataka populatio...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
JCDR Research and Publications Private Limited
2015-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://jcdr.net/articles/PDF/6880/15401_CE(RA1)_F(T)_PF1(Bm_Om)_PFA(AK)_PF2(PAG).pdf |
| Summary: | Introduction: Ear as an organ is necessary for the perception
of sound and body balance. Ear infection, diabetes mellitus,
hypertension and excessive use of mobile phone for listening to
music at high volume all can reduce hearing. No earlier study
was available in the costal Karnataka population, regarding the
practice of ear care. The study objective was to ascertain the
level of knowledge of the community regarding ear care, to find
out whether some of the common conditions affecting hearing
are known and to find out the common practices involved in
maintaining ear hygiene.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was
conducted on 500 subjects in two tertiary care hospitals by
convenient sampling, using self-administered questionnaire.
Knowledge, Attitude and Practice across the age groups, religion
& education background were studied.
Results: Across different education groups, 66.7%-90% did not
know that ‘cold’ can cause ear infection and 46.7%-75.0% did not
know that diabetes and hypertension can reduce hearing. When
there is ear pain or discharge, people put ear drops available
at home in 48.3%-75.0% across 3 age groups; 58.5%-61.5%
across 3 religions and 44.8%-67.9% across 5 education groups.
No statistically significant difference was found in the practice
of pouring oil into ears across religions. A total of 58.6%-100%
daily clean inside the ear and 70-100% use cotton buds.
Conclusion: General perception of the people is that ear is
necessary only for hearing. Majority did not know that nasal
infection can affect the ear and that DM and hypertension can
cause hearing loss. When there is ear pain and discharge, most
of the adults put drops that are available at home. Pouring oil into
the ears and cleaning inside the ear canals is routinely practiced
in costal Karnataka. |
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| ISSN: | 2249-782X 0973-709X |