Awareness of Rheumatic Heart Disease in Egypt: A National Multicenter Study.
J Cardiovasc Dev Dis
; 8(9)2021 Sep 04.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34564126
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
While the prevalence of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in Egypt is relatively high, data on the awareness of Egyptians about the cause of RHD are lacking.METHODS:
Using a pre-tested questionnaire, we performed a multicenter survey of outpatients attending 15 university hospitals across Egypt.RESULTS:
A total of 6958 participants were interviewed. Most subjects (81.7%) reported a previous experience of sore throat. Seeking treatment, most patients (69.3%) consulted a medical professional, while the others relied on self/peer medication. Individuals consulting a physician received antibiotics more frequently than those who did not (89.1 vs. 38.7%; OR 12.4, 95% CI 10.8-14.1). The median RHD knowledge score in our sample was 4 (IQR = 6). While most subjects (56.3%) claimed knowledge of the complications of an untreated sore throat, only a third (34%) were aware of the association between sore throat and RHD. In a multivariate analysis, older age (Mean Difference [MD] 1.58, 95% CI 1.37-1.79), female gender (MD 0.89, 95% CI 0.75-1.04), higher education (MD 1.10, 95% CI 0.90-1.30), and being interviewed outside Cairo (MD 0.67, 95% CI 0.51-0.82) were significant predictors of knowledge about RHD.CONCLUSION:
The current study showed low levels of awareness on the cause of RHD among Egyptians and highlights a pressing need for interventions to address this public knowledge gap.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Type of study:
Clinical_trials
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Language:
En
Journal:
J Cardiovasc Dev Dis
Year:
2021
Document type:
Article