Background: Asthma affects an estimated 300 million individuals worldwide, with an expected increase to 400 million, by 2025. Health education is an important aspect of asthma management and outcome. This study aims to identify the level of knowledge regarding bronchial asthma.
Methodology: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study with convenience sampling technique, including 384 participants of Riyadh population. Inclusion criteria included all ages, sexes, and nationalities. The questionnaire comprised a series of close-ended questions, covered mainly triggering factors, complication, symptoms, and signs. The data were analyzed using the statistical package (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) version 22 and Microsoft excel to generate figures and charts. Chi-square test was also used. p-value of 0.05 or less for significance. Consent obtained before data collection from all the participants.
Results: About 75.5% of participants had good knowledge regarding treatment, while 24.5% had poor knowledge. The majority of participant's (66.4%) had a positive attitude, and 32.3% had a moderate attitude that might be helpful, while 1.3% had negative action. Most of the participants (60.4%) had good knowledge regarding complication as they knew that respiratory distress is a complication of bronchial asthma, while 39.6% had poor knowledge regarding complication of bronchial asthma. There was a significant statistical relationship between the level of knowledge regarding triggering factors and gender (p value = 0.008).
Conclusion: The knowledge regarding bronchial asthma was relatively good, while the attitude needs improvement, especially the attitude toward the distressed asthmatic patient. On the other hand, the female participants showed a higher level of knowledge than males.
Key words: Asthma, risk factor, treatment, knowledge.
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