Awareness of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) among the general population in Aseer Region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA)

Ali Al Bshabshe; Nawaf Al Shuqayfah; Fahad Alahmari; Abdulmalik Alhomrany; Nashwa M Noreldin; Wesam F Mousa; Abdullah Algarni

doi:10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_2462_22

Awareness of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) among the general population in Aseer Region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA)

J Family Med Prim Care. 2023 Jun;12(6):1209-1213. doi: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_2462_22. Epub 2023 Jun 30.

Authors

Ali Al Bshabshe¹, Nawaf Al Shuqayfah², Fahad Alahmari², Abdulmalik Alhomrany², Nashwa M Noreldin³, Wesam F Mousa⁴, Abdullah Algarni⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medicine, Critical Care Division, King Khalid University, Abha, Kingdome of Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Medicine, King Khalid University, Abha, Kingdome of Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Internal Medicine, Tanta College of Medicine, University of Tanta, Tanta, Egypt.
⁴ Consultant ICU, Khamis Mushait General Hospital, Khamis Mushait, Kingdome of Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Family and Community Medicine Department, Aseer Central Hospital, Abha, Kingdome of Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common but preventable disease and has a prevalence of 5%-14% in the general population. It is characterized by airflow limitation and persistent respiratory symptoms. In this survey, we aimed to assess the awareness of COPD among the general population in the Aseer Region of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

Method: This was an observational, cross-sectional study in which predesigned electronic questionnaires were distributed to 504 randomly selected community personnel utilizing phone services. The collected data were analyzed using the IBM SPSS Statistics software, version 24 for Windows (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY).

Results: Participants were asked 11 questions with yes-or-no answers based on awareness and symptoms of COPD: 35.5% of participants had heard about the COPD as a term and 72% had no detailed information about COPD. Only 3.5% of participants had relatives with COPD. During the survey on COPD symptoms, 31% of participants chose shortness of breath and the rest chose cough (20%), sputum production (15%), wheezing (14%), and chest pain (19%). Almost two-third of the participants had no idea about COPD symptoms. For the most disease knowledge, majority of the study participants had very poor knowledge about the disease that was evident in the 22 questions intended to assess this domain. Social media sites ranked as the most popular source of information on COPD among the study participants.

Conclusion: Awareness about COPD among the general population in the Aseer Region in KSA is poor. It is advisable to carry out programs to increase their level of awareness.

Keywords: Awareness; chronic; disease; obstructive; pulmonary.