Awareness and Practice of Patients with Helicobacter pylori Infection Toward their Disease in the Riyadh Region, Saudi Arabia

J Pharm Bioallied Sci. 2024 Feb;16(Suppl 1):S473-S476. doi: 10.4103/jpbs.jpbs_755_23. Epub 2024 Jan 5.

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to study the awareness and practice of patients with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) toward their disease in the Riyadh region, Saudi Arabia.

Material and methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional community-based study, in the central region of the kingdom. The target population of this study was adult patients with H. pylori infection, and a sample of 808 Saudi and non-Saudi male and female individuals were randomly selected using an online questionnaire. A consent form was obtained from all participants. Ethical approval was obtained from the university ethics committee.

Results: There were a total of 808 responses. Most participants were female (89.4%) (n = 722) and between the ages of 35 and 60 years (60.8%), and most participants had a bachelor's degree (62.4%). 53.47% of the participants have good knowledge regarding their disease. Most of the participants knew it could cause gastric and duodenal ulcers (82.5%), but they did not know the infection might cause gastric cancer (48.6%).

Conclusion: The study concluded that the majority of patients with H. pylori infection (53.47%) have good knowledge regarding their disease. Additionally, many participants were aware of the symptoms associated with H. pylori. Furthermore, many participants complained about their treatment.

Keywords: Awareness; Helicobacter pylori infection; Saudi Arabia; knowledge; practice.