Prevalence, morbidity and treatment seeking behavior for allergic conjunctivitis in children in a North Indian community

Allergy is a medical problem which affects more than 15% of the world population. Allergic tendency tends to target more than one organ system in the body and hence, the patient may have symptoms related to multiple organ systems.^, However, ocular component is frequently the most prominent and disabling feature of their allergy as it leads to continuous symptoms like itching and watering of eyes, which leads to significant irritation. The prevalence of allergic conjunctivitis is surprisingly high and it is supposed to be the most common allergic disorder. Currently it is estimated that at least 20% of the general population suffers from some form of allergic conjunctivitis.

Numerous reports indicate that the incidence and prevalence of allergic conditions have increased dramatically all over the world during the past 40 years and they continue to rise.^, This is because of rapid urbanization, industrialization, increased air pollution and dry-eye syndrome.

Allergic conjunctivitis is often under-diagnosed and consequently undertreated. Recurrent symptoms for several years may turn patient behavior towards under-reporting of problems and ignoring ocular care. Patients of allergic conjunctivitis, having significant debilitating symptoms like itching, watering of eyes and ropy discharge have interference in their day to day activities, difficulty in concentrating in their work and these adversely affect their quality of life. These aspects underscore the importance of estimating the disease burden and its consequent morbidity in the community. Hence the present study was undertaken to assess the prevalence, morbidity features and treatment seeking behavior amongst children of 5–15 years age group.

The study was conducted in a low income community of North Chandigarh, India having 3003 numbered houses with a population of 18,000 approximately as per the official records. The residents of the colony are migrants from different states of India like Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring countries like Nepal. Majority of people residing here belong to a low socio economic group and are unaware of the diseases so they tend to ignore many health problems until their condition becomes severe. All the houses of the colony were divided into six strata of 500 houses each. Randomization of these strata was done to experimental and control by lottery method in which three groups of 500 houses each were in experimental group and three in control group. Sampling technique employed was systematic random sampling. Every 2nd house was surveyed (even numbered house, selected by lottery method) to identify the subjects of 5–15 years having allergic conjunctivitis. The tool was developed by relevant literature search on allergic conjunctivitis through books, national & international journals and internet search and validated by experts in the field of nursing and department of ophthalmology. The tools developed in the study included a survey proforma to identify the children suffering from allergic conjunctivitis; an interview schedule to gather information on socio demographic profile and data pertaining to allergic conjunctivitis in the study subjects. Assessment proforma and observation checklist were used to collect data on the intensity of the symptoms of in allergic conjunctivitis. A house to house survey was conducted to identify the study subjects. The children of age group 5–15 years and their care givers were interviewed as per survey proforma and children with the symptoms of allergic conjunctivitis were enrolled in the study. Any child, male or female in the age group of 5–15 years; presenting with any three of the following symptoms – itching, ropy discharge, frequent eye rubbing, redness or watering of eyes for minimum of one week was diagnosed as having Allergic Conjunctivitis.

The sample size was calculated by using “Statcalc Software” (Epi Info) taking prevalence of 15%, error interval of 5% at the confidence interval of 95% and 5% level of significance which came out to be 187 and by adding 10% of dropouts (187 × 10/100 = 18.7–19), so the sample required is 187 + 19 = 206–210. Total 1775 children were contacted out of which 217 were identified with the symptoms of allergic conjunctivitis. Subjects older than 10 years were interviewed as per interview schedule and the data was supplemented by their mothers, while in case of younger children of age less than 10 years, their mothers were interviewed.

Score for each symptom was categorized on a scale of (0–10). They were categorised as - no symptom – (0 score), mild– (0.1–3 score), moderate– (3.1–7 score) and severe– (7.1–10). The individual scores of all the symptoms were added and divided by 5 to obtain the average scores (0–10); i.e. overall intensity of symptoms of allergic conjunctivitis. This overall intensity of symptoms was further categorized as mild– (0.1–3 score), moderate– (3.1–7 score), severe– (7.1–10 score). The data was analysed using standard SPSS-16 software.

Table 1 depicts the Socio demographic profile of the respondents. Mean age of the subjects was 9.59 ± 3.07 years with a range of 5–15 years. Male respondents were more than female. As per the educational level 38.2% of the subjects had upto primary level of education. Majority (94%) of the subjects were Hindus and 53.9% of the subjects were living in nuclear family. As per family size, 51.6% of the subjects had 5-8 members in their family and the range for the number of family members living together was 3–16.

Considering environmental factors, liquefied petroleum gas was the type of fuel used by majority (95%) of the families and most of the houses (82.4%) had separate kitchen in their house. Very few (10.1%) had kept a pet in their house.

Allergies affect 10 to 20% of the population.^, They often run in families. People who have allergies are more likely to develop allergic conjunctivitis as conjunctiva is easily accessible for the allergens to cause allergic reaction and produce symptoms. When the eyes are exposed to allergens like pollen or mold spores, dust, animal dander, perfumes, cosmetics etc. they may become itchy, red and produce watery discharge. The problem of allergic conjunctivitis is associated more with its frequency (episodes) than its severity; as, a single episode may not be very severe but repeated episodes might be debilitating for patients. Although the burden of allergic conjunctivitis is high, ranging from 15 to 20%^,,,; it is frequently overlooked by patients and this condition remains under diagnosed in a majority of the population.

The prevalence of allergic conjunctivitis is reasonably high. In our study, amongst children of age group 5–15 years, prevalence was found to be 12.22%.

In the present study it was observed that most of the general population does not know the actual cause of the allergies; thus, it becomes difficult for them to avoid the allergen. Supporting this observation, in the present study, the precipitating cause for allergic conjunctivitis was not known to more than half of the subjects; though rest of the subjects had reported known inciting factors like dust, smoke, sunlight, pollen/grass/ragweed, dandruff, dry eyes and cosmetics. A few subjects reported more than one precipitating factor. Dust and smoke were the common allergens, while pollen, grass or ragweed was reported only in few subjects.

Itching is the most important symptom of this condition, so much so that if itching is absent, the diagnosis of allergic conjunctivitis ought to be questioned. In the present study, itching and frequent eye rubbing was reported by all the subjects and these symptoms were the basis for the selection of the study subjects.

Ocular allergy in majority of the cases is overlooked and in spite of its interference in day to day activities, people don't seek medical attention. A cross sectional study supported this finding in which only 19.4% of the subjects had consulted an ophthalmologist and 56.1% had started with self-treatment. This was an interesting pointer towards tendency to access medical attention; in the present study it was found that about 57% of the subjects did not seek any medical treatment from a doctor, however it was noted that with increasing severity of symptoms subjects increasingly sought medical attention.

Health professionals working in community can play a very important role in creating awareness amongst the general public regarding signs and symptoms of allergic conjunctivitis; and they can also identify patients having this affliction. Patients should be made aware of the consequences of neglecting their ocular health; they can also be taught simple cost effective measures like cold compress for getting relief from their symptoms.

The magnitude of allergic conjunctivitis was found 12.22% which is reasonably high and majority of the subjects had not taken any treatment for getting relief from their symptoms.

Ethical clearance was taken from the Institute ethical committee (PGIMER, Chandigarh). Written informed consent was taken from the study subject. Subjects were empowered with the full autonomy to participate in the research and withdraw at any time. The trial is also registered with Clinical Trials Registry- India (CTRI) with registration number CTRI/2016/02/006586.

The authors declare that none of the authors have any proprietary interests or conflicts of interest related to this submission.

The authors declare that no financial grant was taken for the study project, the study was self sponsored by the primary author.