Knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to COVID-19 infection, related behavior, antibiotics usage, and resistance among Syrian population: A cross-sectional study

Sarya Swed; Sheikh Shoib; Mohammad B Almoshantaf; Walaa Hasan; Yomna E Dean; Yousef Tanas; Haidara Bohsas; Hidar Alibrahim; Mohammad M Hasan; Weaam Ezzdean; Hazem S Ghaith; Lina T Khairy; Agyad Bakkour; Ali Hadi Hussein Muwaili; Fatima A A Abdelmajid; Mhd K Albuni; Elias Battikh; Dhuha Hadi Hussein Muwaili; Rima Qattea; Karam R Motawea; Bisher Sawaf; Nashaat Kamal Hamdy Elkalagi; Safaa M A Ahmed; Hani Aiash; & Data Collection Group

doi:10.1002/hsr2.833

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to COVID-19 infection, related behavior, antibiotics usage, and resistance among Syrian population: A cross-sectional study

Health Sci Rep. 2022 Oct 3;5(6):e833. doi: 10.1002/hsr2.833. eCollection 2022 Nov.

Authors

Sarya Swed¹, Sheikh Shoib², Mohammad B Almoshantaf³, Walaa Hasan⁴, Yomna E Dean⁵, Yousef Tanas⁵, Haidara Bohsas¹, Hidar Alibrahim¹, Mohammad M Hasan⁶, Weaam Ezzdean⁷, Hazem S Ghaith⁸, Lina T Khairy⁹, Agyad Bakkour¹⁰, Ali Hadi Hussein Muwaili¹¹, Fatima A A Abdelmajid¹², Mhd K Albuni¹³, Elias Battikh¹³, Dhuha Hadi Hussein Muwaili¹¹, Rima Qattea¹⁰, Karam R Motawea⁵, Bisher Sawaf¹⁴, Nashaat Kamal Hamdy Elkalagi¹⁵, Safaa M A Ahmed¹⁶, Hani Aiash^{17

18}; & Data Collection Group

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Medicine Aleppo University Aleppo Syria.
² Department of Psychiatry Jawahar Lal Nerhu Memorial Hospital (JLNMH) Srinagar India.
³ Department of Neurosurgery Ibn Al-Nafess Hospital Damascus Syria.
⁴ Clinical Oncology and Nuclear Medicine Suez Canal Egypt.
⁵ Faculty of Medicine Alexandria University Alexandria Egypt.
⁶ Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Life Science Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University Tangail Bangladesh.
⁷ Department of Urology Ibn Al-Nafees Hospital Damascus Syria.
⁸ Faculty of Medicine Al-Azhar University Cairo Egypt.
⁹ General Practitioner The National Ribat University Al-Ribat Sudan.
¹⁰ Faculty of Medicine Albaath University Homs Syria.
¹¹ General Practitioner Ivano-Frankovsk National Medical University Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Ukraine.
¹² General Practitioner University of Medical Sciences and Technology Khartoum Sudan.
¹³ Department of Internal Medicine Damascus University Damascus Syria.
¹⁴ Department of Internal Medicine Syrian Private University Damascus Syria.
¹⁵ Internal Medicine and Tropical Medicine at Faculty of Medicine Al Arish University Al Arish Egypt.
¹⁶ Faculty of Medicine Shendi University Shendi Sudan.
¹⁷ Cardiovascular Perfusion, Medicine, Surgery Upstate Medical University Syracuse New York USA.
¹⁸ Family Medicine Suez Canal university Ismailia Egypt.

Abstract

Background and aims: Antibiotic resistance is seen as a worldwide health risk as a result of the overuse of antibiotics. Many countries noted that antibiotic usage was high during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study is to evaluate Syrians' knowledge, attitudes, and practice about the use of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance during the COVID-19 epidemic.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using an online questionnaire to collect the data from the Syrian population from February 5 to March 4, 2022. Syrians 18 years or older all over the world were able to participate in this study. A convenience snowball sampling method was used. SPSS version 20.0 was used to analyze the data. To examine the results, binominal logistic regression was used. Statistical significance was defined as a p < 0.05.

Results: Out of 2406 respondents, 60.2% knew that transmission of COVID-19 could occur even if the patient has not developed any symptoms, and 91.6% were able to recognize the main clinical symptoms of COVID-19. There was a statistically significant difference between male and female knowledge of COVID-19 (p = 0.002), with males having 3.78 ± 2.1 (2.7-3.87) and females scoring 3.93 ± 2.3 (3.7-4.1). Newly graduated students have more knowledge of COVID-19 than other subtypes of Job (p = 0.0001), and those with medical practice are more knowledgeable than those without (p = 0.0001). Only 16.6% answered that taking antibiotics would not speed up the recovery from all the infections. 65.3% answered correctly that misuse of antibiotics could cause antibiotic resistance.

Conclusion: Our study concluded that the Syrian population demonstrated good knowledge of COVID-19 and moderate acceptance of the new norm. Knowledge regarding antibiotic use and resistance and practice of preventive measures was poor, which can encourage the health authorities to develop community education programs to increase public awareness of the usage of antibiotics and safety protocols during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: COVID19; KAP; Syria; antibiotics assistance.