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Syed Esam Mahmood,1 Abdullah Thabit A Alqahtani,2 Bader Abdulmohsen A Alghamdi,2 Mohammed Ali Gazzan,2 Meshari Yahya A Alqahtani,2 Nada Ali Y Alfaifi,3 Safar A Alsaleem,1 Fatima Riaz,1 Mohammad Tauheed Ahmad,4 Ausaf Ahmad,5 Mohammad Suhail Khan,6 Shahabe Saquib Abullais7 1Department of Family & Community Medicine, College of Medicine, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia; 2College of Medicine, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia; 3College of Medicine, Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi Arabia; 4Department of Medical Education, College of Medicine, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia; 5Department of Community Medicine, Integral Institute of Medical Science and Research, Integral University, Lucknow, India; 6Department of Public Health, College of Applied Medical Sciences, KhamisMushait, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia; 7Department of Periodontics and Community Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Syed Esam Mahmood, Department of Family & Community Medicine, College of Medicine, King Khalid University, Abha, 62529, Saudi Arabia, Tel +966550484344, Email smahmood@kku.edu.saIntroduction: Epidemiological studies are urgently needed to assess the prevalence of COPD in the region to determine the baseline, against which the future trends in the risk factor levels can be assessed and preventive strategies be planned to promote health among the population. Therefore, this study was undertaken to assess the awareness of COPD and its risk factors in Saudi Arabia.Materials and Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted among the general adult population aged 18 years and above living in the Aseer region. A minimum sample of 385 was targeted, using the Raosoft sample size calculator. An online questionnaire was prepared in both English and Arabic language using Google forms and distributed among participants through social media.Results: It was observed that less than one-third (116, 30.12%) of the study population had ever heard about COPD. Nearly one-third spent time with smokers. Among all, 223 (57.3%) respondents had never heard and 46 (11.9%) respondents did not know anything about COPD. The majority correctly knew that the lungs are the primary organ affected by COPD (92, 79.3%). Age, sex, marital status, income, and occupation showed a significant association with COPD awareness. Nearly 41.4% knew that COPD progresses exclusively with age, COPD is more expensive for society than lung cancer (49.0%), cigarette smoking affects COPD (34.5%), COPD is fully recoverable with short-term antibiotics (35.0%), COPD lasts more than 18 months (48.1%), COPD can worsen with smoke exposure (37.4%), lead to disability (46.7%) and quitting smoking has an important role in preventing COPD (34.0%).Conclusion: The awareness regarding the disease was low among the respondents. Only one-third correctly knew that quitting smoking has an important role in preventing COPD. This study projects an urgent need of improving awareness of COPD and its risk factors in the general population.Keywords: COPD, knowledge, Saudi Arabia, survey, questionnaire |
