Volume 26, Issue 129, November 2022

Social knowledge of symptoms, risk factors, causes, and preventive measures of CO poisoning among Saudi Arabia's general population

Nasser AlMulhim¹, Mohammed AlJumaah^2♦, Ali AlGharash², Fahad AlMulhim², Mousa AlMazyadi², Noor AlAbbad², Sarah AlHerz³, Hussain AlGhadeer⁴, Laila AlIbrahim⁵, Mohammed AlHajji⁵, Basel AlKishi⁶

¹Emergency Medicine Consultant, King Fahad Hospital in Hofuf, AlAhssa, Saudi Arabia
²Medical Intern, College of Medicine, King Faisal University, AlAhssa, Saudi Arabia
³Medical Intern, College of Medicine, Albaha University, Albaha, Saudi Arabia
⁴Pediatric resident, Maternity and Children’s Hospital, AlAhssa, Saudi Arabia
⁵Medical Student, College of Medicine, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
⁶Medical Student, College of Medicine, King Faisal University, AlAhssa, Saudi Arabia

^♦Corresponding author
Medical Intern, College of Medicine, King Faisal University, AlAhssa, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

Background: Carbon monoxide (CO) is a highly poisonous gas that has no identifiable colour or odor. People could be affected by CO emissions from various sources that include gas stoves, water heaters, fire places and motor vehicles. Aim: The study aims to assess the perception & knowledge regarding symptoms, risk factors, causes and preventive measures of CO poisoning among the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) general population. Subjects and methods: This is a cross sectional study of the general population of the KSA. The study targeted non health care providers using an electronic survey. The questionnaire mainly consists of three parts; socio-demographic data, knowledge assessment, habitual factors and practices related to CO poisoning. Results: Out of 568 participants, (52.8%) were aged between 18 to 25 years with (64.1%) being females. The majority had poor knowledge (67.6%), negative attitude (72.4%) but good prevention practices (64.4%). Conclusion: There was a deficiency in terms of knowledge and attitude. However preventive practices are inspiring. Respondents who have heard about CO poisoning tend to exhibit better knowledge and practices as compared to the rest of the population.

Keywords: Carbon monoxide, poisoning, knowledge, Saudi Arabia

Medical Science, 2022, 26, ms444e2484

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi/v26i129/ms444e2484

Published: 05 November 2022