Knowledge and Awareness of Metabolic Inborn Errors among Male and Female Students at King Abdulaziz University – Rabigh.

Abstract

Context: Inborn errors of metabolism are a large group of rare genetic diseases. The incidence of inborn metabolic errors, collectively, as high as 1 in 2500 live births, but it varies greatly and depends on the population. Presentation is usually in the neonatal period or infancy but can occur at any time. Diagnosis does not require extensive knowledge of biochemical pathways or individual metabolic diseases. Aims: To assess the students’ knowledge about IEM and to plan future improvement in the curriculum if needed and to plan and organize awareness campaigns. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 400 undergraduate medical and non-medical students. Methods and Material: The study included 400 medical and non-medical students (including 202 males & 198 females) from the Rabigh campus. The questionnaire was constructed and translated into Arabic. The frequencies of different categories were evaluated for their statistical significance. Results: Among male students, trivial differences were observed between the answers of medical and non-medical students, both groups agreed on the fact that metabolic disorders can be caused by an enzyme deficiency. However, 36% of medical students and 43% of non-medical students did not know that metabolic disorders can be diagnosed prenatally. As regards the female students, 43% of non-medical students accepted that diagnosis usually needs invasive procedures, while 43 % of medical students refused that concept. On comparison of male and female students, 50 % of male students had no idea of the usefulness of gene therapy as a tool for management, yet 43 % of females agreed on the importance of gene therapy. Conclusion: More efforts should be exerted to raise the level of awareness and improve the knowledge among both medical and non-medical students and the community in Saudi Arabia by increasing the taught material regarding genetic diseases in universities and even introduce it in school.

Knowledge and perception of inborn errors of metabolism (IEMs) among healthcare students at a selected public university in Klang Valley, Malaysia

“…This present study discovered an overall insufficiency of IEM-related knowledge among healthcare students, especially in terms of diagnoses, management, and organisational issues of IEMs. These findings were similar to that of a recent Saudi Arabian study which concluded that both medical and non-medical students lacked the knowledge with which to diagnose and manage IEMs (22). This was also consistent with the findings of several other studies, which reported that the majority of healthcare students also lacked knowledge on the organizational issues of rare disorders, * p < 0.05 -significant using Independent t-test for comparison between 2 groups and one-way ANOVA for comparison between three groups.…”

“…A self-administered questionnaire that consisted of four sections and 47 items was adapted from extant literature (19,22) (Supplemental Table S1, http://www.irdrjournal. com/action/getSupplementalData.php?ID=111).…”

“…Furthermore, because many healthcare students report insufficient IEM-related knowledge, they struggle to distinguish rare IEMs from other common diseases (19,20). A Saudi Arabian study also reported an overall lack of IEM-related knowledge, especially among students in non-medical faculties (21,22).…”

“…Female participants were also found to have higher levels of IEM-related knowledge. This may be due to their natural ability to produce offspring, which increases concerns (i.e., maternal instincts) of prenatal genetic testing (21,22,27). Other factors; such as a family history of genetic disorders; was also found to contribute to higher levels of IEM-related knowledge (21).…”

Knowledge and awareness level of healthcare professional candidate students on inherited metabolic diseases: a cross-sectional study

“…It has been determined that studies have been conducted in Malaysia [ 11 ], Saudi Arabia [ 14 ], and Poland [ 15 ] to evaluate IMD knowledge levels in healthcare sciences students, but such a study has not been conducted in Turkey. Although IMDs are common in Turkey, it is known that the courses on IMDs in the health sciences education curriculum of universities that train health professionals are inadequate.…”