Volume 28, Issue 148, June 2024

Awareness of Rheumatoid Arthritis among Saudi Arabian population

Fatma Ghoneim^1♦, Ayat Elzayat², Bushra Zaynol³, Banan Hassan³, Raghba Alharbi³, Farah Alshumayri⁴

¹Physiological Sciences Department, MBBS program, Fakeeh College for Medical Sciences, Jeddah 21461, Saudi Arabia
²Clinical Sciences Department, MBBS program, Fakeeh College for Medical Sciences, Jeddah 21461, Saudi Arabia
³MBBS program, Fakeeh College for Medical Sciences, Jeddah 21461, Saudi Arabia
⁴Batterjee Medical College, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

^♦Corresponding author
Physiological Sciences Department, MBBS program, Fakeeh College for Medical Sciences, Jeddah 21461, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

Background and aim of the work: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory condition. Its common symptoms are joint pain, stiffness, discomfort, hotness, and edema. Untreated RA can cause extensive damage to the joints and surrounding tissue. Increasing public awareness of RA is crucial for early diagnosis and treatment. Methods: This study aimed to assess the level of knowledge about rheumatoid arthritis among the general population in Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 370 participants using an online questionnaire tested for content and faced validity and distributed using Google Forms. Results: Most of the studied population learned about RA through reading, family history, or hearing about it. Over half identified RA as a chronic auto-immune disease, with 78.9% correctly identifying symptoms. Age group and family history were identified as risk factors for most of the participants. Common complications included bone erosion and joint deformity (64.1%), joint damage (61.1%), bone thinning, and osteoporosis (57.3%). Most participants had a fair to good knowledge of RA (36% and 32%, respectively). Female gender, university education, and source of knowledge were positively associated with raised awareness. Conclusion: The study revealed fair to good knowledge about RA among the Saudi population. Most correctly identified RA as a chronic autoimmune disease and recognized key symptoms and risk factors. The study emphasized the need for continuous public health authorities to raise awareness about RA in the general population.

Keywords: Saudi Arabia, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Awareness, Knowledge

Medical Science, 2024, 28, e52ms3352

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi.v28i148.e52ms3352

Published: 07 June 2024