title: COPD care in Saudi Arabia: physicians' awareness and knowledge of guidelines and barriers to implementation.
abstract: To assess Saudi physicians' awareness and knowledge about chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) guideline recommendations.
  
  
  
  Cross-sectional study including physicians involved in COPD care in five hospitals in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. The level of physicians' knowledge was considered as satisfactory (score > 80%), fair (score 50-80%) or poor (<50% of total score).
  
  
  
  Among the 44 physicians included in the study, the mean ± standard deviation knowledge score was 29.5 ± 4.2 out of 45 points (65.5%). Most physicians appeared to be unaware of any COPD guidelines (n = 27, 61.4%), and reported not adhering to guidelines (n = 28, 63.6%).
  
  
  
  Saudi physicians' knowledge about Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease guidelines was assessed as fair. It is therefore highly recommended to increase physicians' awareness and knowledge about COPD-related guidelines.
authors.affiliation: Southern Adelaide Local Health Network, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Adelaide, South Australia, School of Medicine, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia.
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Alsubaiei
authors.affiliation: Southern Adelaide Local Health Network, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Adelaide, South Australia, School of Medicine, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia.
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Frith
authors.affiliation: Southern Adelaide Local Health Network, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Adelaide, South Australia, School of Medicine, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia.
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Cafarella
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, Data Science and Epidemiology, Swinburne University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Quinn
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Al Moamary
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Southern Adelaide Local Health Network, Sleep Health Service, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: McEvoy
authors.affiliation: Southern Adelaide Local Health Network, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Adelaide, South Australia, School of Medicine, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia.
authors.forename: T W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Effing
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010820:Physicians / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000628:therapy*; D012529:Saudi Arabia