KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE, AND PRACTICES OF SAUDI ASTHMATIC PATIENTS ABOUT ASTHMA: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY IN PHC FACILITIES, QASSIM, SAUDI ARABIA

Background: According to the evidence, accurate asthma knowledge and perceptions have a good link with medication adherence and frequent medical follow-up. Community knowledge, attitude, and perception (KAP) assessments are necessary for developing public health interventions. There is a dearth of community-based KAP research on asthma in KSA, since the majority of available information comes from hospital-based studies conducted in an urban context. Methods:A descriptive, cross-sectional study. to evaluate knowledge, attitude and practice about asthma at a single point of measurement, this is the most suitable design. This design enables the researcher to collect reliable data within short period. This study was conducted at primary health care centers in Qassim region, Saudi Arabia from 23-10-2022 until 31-12-2022. Results: The median age of asthmatic patientswas 29 years, with a range between 12 and 65 years. Almost more than half of them (n= 80, 55.6%) had completed university degrees. Some of thestudy participants reported having A comorbid disease besides asthma. Diabetes mellitus was the most frequent (n= 26, 18.1%) and hypertension comes in the second place among (n= 10, 6.9%). The duration of asthma diagnosis ranged from 3 months to 40 years with A median duration of diagnosis of 7 years. Participants knowledge, attitude and practice assessment was good among most of them (75%). Having observed asthma patients was associated with KAP on symptoms and triggers, whereas a younger age and having an asthmatic relative were independently associated with KAP on treatment. Participants with asthmatic relatives were three times more likely to have good KAP than their counterparts [(OR 3.04 95% (1.5–6.1)]. Conclusion: In Saudi Arabia, asthma knowledge and perceptions are limited. Appropriate investments in public awareness are urgently required.