Level of awareness and attitudes toward epilepsy in Qassim, Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES: Reports of poor knowledge about epilepsy in different cities of Saudi Arabia have emphasized the need for a similar study of this issue in the Qassim region. Therefore, we aimed to determine the level of awareness and attitudes toward epilepsy in the population of Qassim, Saudi Arabia. METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the Qassim region. A valid pretested questionnaire was distributed among Qassim residents in public places, such as malls, mosques, and parks. The sample size consisted of 3800 people from multiple cities in the Qassim region. The study was approved by the Qassim committee in Qassim University, and verbal consent was obtained from participants. RESULTS: Data were obtained from 2253 males (59.3%) and 1544 females (40.6%). A large number of respondents were between 15 and 30 years (59.7%). The data showed that 85.5% of people had heard about epilepsy or read about it and 33% knew a patient with epilepsy while 42.7% had seen or witnessed someone having a seizure. It was also found that 73.2% of parents would allow their child to play with patients with epilepsy, 35.7% would allow their son or daughter to marry a patient with epilepsy, and 74.9% think that patients with epilepsy can be employed in jobs, like other people. CONCLUSION: Insufficient knowledge about epilepsy, which is a very common disorder, has a great and negative impact on people with epilepsy, their families and communities, and the healthcare systems. In our study, we found that good knowledge was associated with being a young adult, male, unmarried, and being a university student.

Frequency of using non-prescribed medication in Majmaah city, Saudi Arabia -- A cross sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency of using non-prescribed medication in a Saudi Arabian city. METHODS: The cross-sectional study was conducted in Majmaah city, Saudi Arabia, from January to May 2014, and comprised adults of either gender. For data collection, a questionnaire was designed and its reliability was checked by Cronbach Alpha. SPSS 20 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Of the 390 respondents 276(70.8%) were males, while 114(29.2%) were females. The overall mean age was 29.90±11.56 years (range: 18-83 years). Of the total, 363(93.1%) were using non-prescribed medication; and 148(37.9%) said they were using the drugs as they had experienced similar symptoms before and they knew the treatment. Public pharmacies were the main source for obtaining non-prescribed medication for 163(41.8%) subjects. Gender and use of non-prescribed medication was significantly associated (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of using non-prescribed medication in Majmaah city was high. Pain-killers, antibiotics and antipyretics were the most used non-prescribed medications. Male respondents used non-prescribed medication more than the females.

Public knowledge and attitudes toward epilepsy in Majmaah.

OBJECTIVES: Epilepsy is very common in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, occurring in 6.54 out of every 1000 individuals. The current study was conducted to determine the level of public awareness of and attitudes toward epilepsy in the city of Majmaah, Saudi Arabia. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This descriptive study was conducted in Majmaah, Saudi Arabia. The study population included respondents derived from preselected public places in the city. Stratified random sampling was used, and the sample size was made up of 706 individuals. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection from respondents after receiving their verbal consent. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 2.0. Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee of Majmaah University. RESULTS: The results showed that 575 (81.4%) of the respondents had heard or read about epilepsy. Almost 50% of the respondents knew someone who had epilepsy, and 393 (55.7%) had witnessed what they believed to be a seizure. Results showed that 555 (78.6%) respondents believed that epilepsy was neither a contagious disease nor a type of insanity. It was found that 335 (47.5%) stated that epilepsy was a brain disease, and almost one-quarter of the respondents said that the manifestation of an epileptic episode is a convulsion. Regarding attitude, 49% and 47.3% of respondents stated that they would not allow their children to interact with individuals with epilepsy and would object to marrying an individual with epilepsy, respectively. CONCLUSION: Although knowledge about epilepsy is improving, it is still not adequate. The study showed that the attitude toward epilepsy is poor.