Assessment of public awareness towards skin disease in Jouf region, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: In spite of the fact that skin disease is common, to evaluate the public's overall understanding, awareness and knowledge of skin disorders in Saudi Arabia, just one research was carried out. Objective: This study aims to assess public awareness toward dermatologic disorders in Jouf region and to assess prevalence of common dermatologic disorders among Saudi populace.Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study conducted among Saudi general population in Jouf, Saudi Arabia. Adult participants completed a selfadministrated questionnaire to assess knowledge of skin diseases. All data was entered and analyzed using SPSS 23. P-value less than 0.05 were considered for statistical significance. Results: The study included 453 participants, 73.5% were women. As for age, 51.4% of participants were more than 25 years old. Only 1.8% of participants think that all skin diseases are chronic while 16.1% think not. 2.9% think that all skin diseases are infectious while 20.8% think not, 2.4% think that all skin diseases are hereditary while 24.5% think not. Regarding prevalence of dermatologic disorders in the study participants, in addition to having 20.8% acne vulgaris, 3.5% had warts and 3.1% had psoriasis. Freckles made up 19.9% of the population, vitiligo 2%, albinism 5.1%, and claret stain 4.9% of the skin pigmentations. Only 0.2% of people had scabies, 11.5% had dandruff, and 50.1% suffered hair loss. Conclusion:The findings of the current study indicate that Saudi citizens generally have little understanding about prevalent dermatologic illnesses.

Assessment of Public Awareness of Cellulitis in Al-Qunfudhah Region, Saudi Arabia

“…Another study by Qadir et al [30] among students revealed that 93.5% of students knew that cellulitis was a bacterial disease, 83.1% knew that it could be treated medically, and 5.1% reported surgical treatment. In Saudi Arabia, no previous studies assessed public awareness of cellulitis, but Alshaalan et al [31] assessed public awareness of skin diseases, and none of them reported cellulitis as one of the skin-related diseases.…”