title: A study on knowledge, attitude, and practice towards premarital carrier screening among adults attending primary healthcare centers in a region in Oman.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Despite that hereditary diseases are widespread among the Arab population due to high rates of consanguineous marriages, research regarding community awareness towards premarital carrier screening in some countries such as Oman, is extremely scarce. This study aimed to investigate knowledge and attitude towards premarital carrier screening (PMCS) in Oman.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire which was distributed to 400 Omani adults aged 20-35 who attended primary healthcare institutions at the South Batinah Governorate in Oman.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The majority of the participants (84.5%) believed that PMCS was necessary, and about half of them (49.5%) supported the view of making PMCS compulsory. On the contrary, approximately one third (30.5%) of the participants reported that they were not in favor of taking the blood screening test. Overall, unwillingness to perform pre-marital testing was associated with female gender, younger age, being single, less education, and increased income.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite the relatively high level of knowledge, about one third of the participants were still reluctant to carry out premarital testing. Such attitude calls for immediate need for community-based campaigns to encourage the public to do premarital testing.
authors.forename: Omar A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Al-Farsi
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman. ymfarsi@squ.edu.om.
authors.forename: Yahya M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Al-Farsi
authors.forename: Ishita
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Allal
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ouhtit
authors.forename: Khalil S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Al-Farsi
authors.forename: Samir
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Al-Adawi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D018912:Arabs; D001364:Awareness; D003241:Consanguinity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D005820:Genetic Testing; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D009850:Oman; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D011320:Primary Health Care; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
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