Level of health awareness of Saudi patients on renal replacement therapy.
OBJECTIVE
To assess health awareness in patients on renal replacement therapy (RRT) in Saudi Arabia.


METHODS
This is a cross-sectional survey using a 22-item questionnaire in 143 randomly selected adult RRT patients [40 on hemodialysis (HD), 61 on peritoneal dialysis (PD) and 42 with renal transplant (TX)]. The study was carried out at King Abdul-Aziz Medical City, Riyadh in April 2006. The questionnaire was designed to evaluate patients' knowledge in 5 areas: 1. causes of renal failure, 2. biology of the kidneys, 3. symptoms of kidney disease, 4. therapeutic options available, 5. national kidney patients support facilities. The association between the level of awareness (the percentage of correct answers) to different demographic factors was assessed.


RESULTS
Three fifths of the patients had less than secondary education. The average mark for correct responses of all patients was 45.9% with a highest (58%) for the category on biology of the kidney and lowest (36.8%) for national kidney patients support facilities. The PD group had the highest score (54.4%) followed by HD (44.3%) and finally TX (35.1%).


CONCLUSIONS
The level of our patients; health awareness is lower than satisfactory. Level of education seems to be a contributory factor.
Hejaili
Fayez F
FF
Division of Nephrology and Renal Transplantation, King Fahd Hospital, King Abdul-Aziz Medical City, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Tamim
Hani
H
Ghamdi
Ghormullah A
GA
Flaiw
Ahmed I
AI
Al-Juhani
Abdulaziz A
AA
Taher
Saadi M
SM
Jumani
Abdulgader M
AM
Ghalib
Mohamed B
MB
Katheri
Abdulmalik M
AM
Al-Shami
Amal S
AS
Al-Khader
Abdulla A
AA
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017582:Renal Replacement Therapy; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires