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Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Regarding Vitamin D Among Primary Health Care Physicians in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia, 2015

Received: 26 April 2017     Accepted: 19 May 2017     Published: 11 July 2017
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Abstract

Vitamin D deficiency has been recognized as a worldwide epidemic, affecting even healthy population. The awareness and practices of primary health care physicians regarding vitamin D needs to be highlighted, as improving the knowledge of physicians will improve the knowledge of the public as a whole. This study aimed to address the knowledge, attitude and practice of primary health care physicians regarding vitamin D in Riyadh city, KSA. A cross-sectional study was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire among primary care physicians; currently working in Riyadh city, KSA. Descriptive statistics: mean, standard deviation, frequencies, percentage were calculated. Of the 158 eligible participants, there were 43.7% male. The mean participant's age of was 40.7 ± 9.6 years. Of all the participants; 51.3% showed good knowledge regarding vitamin D, while 48.7% showed poor knowledge; 55.1% had positive attitude. Participants were asked about patient features that would alert them to vitamin D status. Fatigue was shown to alert more male than female physicians participants (75.4% vs. 58.4%, p = 0.026). Participants were asked about ways of managing vitamin D deficiency. Nutrition advice was mostly given by older physicians (p = 0.044) and non-Saudis (p = 0.003). In conclusion, this survey identified a gap in knowledge and practice among Primary Health Care physicians. The confusion could be partly attributed to different guidelines and sources of information. This study showed that continuous medical education and online sources were the most common sources of information about vitamin D among physicians.

Published in World Journal of Food Science and Technology (Volume 1, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.wjfst.20170102.13
Page(s) 47-55
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2017. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

KAP, Vitamin D, General Practitioner

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Fahad Al-Amri, Ashry Gad, Dina Al-Habib, Ahmed Khair Ibrahim. (2017). Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Regarding Vitamin D Among Primary Health Care Physicians in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia, 2015. World Journal of Food Science and Technology, 1(2), 47-55. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wjfst.20170102.13

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    ACS Style

    Fahad Al-Amri; Ashry Gad; Dina Al-Habib; Ahmed Khair Ibrahim. Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Regarding Vitamin D Among Primary Health Care Physicians in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia, 2015. World J. Food Sci. Technol. 2017, 1(2), 47-55. doi: 10.11648/j.wjfst.20170102.13

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    AMA Style

    Fahad Al-Amri, Ashry Gad, Dina Al-Habib, Ahmed Khair Ibrahim. Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Regarding Vitamin D Among Primary Health Care Physicians in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia, 2015. World J Food Sci Technol. 2017;1(2):47-55. doi: 10.11648/j.wjfst.20170102.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.wjfst.20170102.13,
      author = {Fahad Al-Amri and Ashry Gad and Dina Al-Habib and Ahmed Khair Ibrahim},
      title = {Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Regarding Vitamin D Among Primary Health Care Physicians in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia, 2015},
      journal = {World Journal of Food Science and Technology},
      volume = {1},
      number = {2},
      pages = {47-55},
      doi = {10.11648/j.wjfst.20170102.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wjfst.20170102.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.wjfst.20170102.13},
      abstract = {Vitamin D deficiency has been recognized as a worldwide epidemic, affecting even healthy population. The awareness and practices of primary health care physicians regarding vitamin D needs to be highlighted, as improving the knowledge of physicians will improve the knowledge of the public as a whole. This study aimed to address the knowledge, attitude and practice of primary health care physicians regarding vitamin D in Riyadh city, KSA. A cross-sectional study was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire among primary care physicians; currently working in Riyadh city, KSA. Descriptive statistics: mean, standard deviation, frequencies, percentage were calculated. Of the 158 eligible participants, there were 43.7% male. The mean participant's age of was 40.7 ± 9.6 years. Of all the participants; 51.3% showed good knowledge regarding vitamin D, while 48.7% showed poor knowledge; 55.1% had positive attitude. Participants were asked about patient features that would alert them to vitamin D status. Fatigue was shown to alert more male than female physicians participants (75.4% vs. 58.4%, p = 0.026). Participants were asked about ways of managing vitamin D deficiency. Nutrition advice was mostly given by older physicians (p = 0.044) and non-Saudis (p = 0.003). In conclusion, this survey identified a gap in knowledge and practice among Primary Health Care physicians. The confusion could be partly attributed to different guidelines and sources of information. This study showed that continuous medical education and online sources were the most common sources of information about vitamin D among physicians.},
     year = {2017}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Regarding Vitamin D Among Primary Health Care Physicians in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia, 2015
    AU  - Fahad Al-Amri
    AU  - Ashry Gad
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    JO  - World Journal of Food Science and Technology
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    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2637-6024
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.wjfst.20170102.13
    AB  - Vitamin D deficiency has been recognized as a worldwide epidemic, affecting even healthy population. The awareness and practices of primary health care physicians regarding vitamin D needs to be highlighted, as improving the knowledge of physicians will improve the knowledge of the public as a whole. This study aimed to address the knowledge, attitude and practice of primary health care physicians regarding vitamin D in Riyadh city, KSA. A cross-sectional study was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire among primary care physicians; currently working in Riyadh city, KSA. Descriptive statistics: mean, standard deviation, frequencies, percentage were calculated. Of the 158 eligible participants, there were 43.7% male. The mean participant's age of was 40.7 ± 9.6 years. Of all the participants; 51.3% showed good knowledge regarding vitamin D, while 48.7% showed poor knowledge; 55.1% had positive attitude. Participants were asked about patient features that would alert them to vitamin D status. Fatigue was shown to alert more male than female physicians participants (75.4% vs. 58.4%, p = 0.026). Participants were asked about ways of managing vitamin D deficiency. Nutrition advice was mostly given by older physicians (p = 0.044) and non-Saudis (p = 0.003). In conclusion, this survey identified a gap in knowledge and practice among Primary Health Care physicians. The confusion could be partly attributed to different guidelines and sources of information. This study showed that continuous medical education and online sources were the most common sources of information about vitamin D among physicians.
    VL  - 1
    IS  - 2
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Deputy Ministry for Public Health, Assistant Deputy for Primary Health Care, Riyadh, KSA

  • Family and Community Medicine Department, King Saud University, Riyadh, KSA

  • Family and Community Medicine Department, King Saud University, Riyadh, KSA

  • Public Health & Community Medicine School, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Asyut, Egypt

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