PUBLIC AWARENESS, KNOWLEDGE, AND ATTITUDES TOWARD EPILEPSY IN THE HAIL REGION, KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA

Abdulaziz Mohammed Alenezi, Saud Khalid Alshammari, Lama Zaid Al-Hemshy, Khalid Melih Alshammari, Salem Fayez Alshaghdali, Abdullah Hamad Alanazi, Hassan Abdulrazaq Alshammari, Abdulaziz Muflih Alghaithi and Hussain Gadelkarim Ahmed 1. College of Medicine, University of Hail, Saudi Arabia. 2. Department of Histopathology and Cytology, FMLS, University of Khartoum, Sudan. ...................................................................................................................... Manuscript Info Abstract ......................... ........................................................................ Manuscript History Received: 16 February 2020 Final Accepted: 18 March 2020 Published: April 2020


Results:-
The Questionnaire applied to 384 participants. Table1 shows the demographic data of the participants. There were 53.1% women and 46.9% men. Most of them were less than or equal 25 years old (42.4%) and there were 10.4% more than or equal 45 years old. However, 48.4% of them were married. There were 79.4% who have a university education and there were only 3.9% that have a basic education. Half of the participants were employed and 16.1% were unemployed and the ruminants were students.
Of 384 respondents, 94.8% had heard or read about epilepsy (Table2), 60.7% knew someone with epilepsy, and 57% had seen what they believed to be a seizure. There were only 12% would prevent their children from socializing with a child with epilepsy. Also, there were 36.5% would object if one of their sons/daughters wanted to marry such a person. Most participants (78.4%) agreed that patients with epilepsy have a right to not be barred from a job, and there were 92.7% do not see any impediments to the success of children with epilepsy in the class with healthy children. There were only 7 participants that believed epilepsy was a form of insanity. When dealing with patients that have seizures, 92.4% would take him/her way from a risk. Another action toward who has a seizure 56.8% putting something in his / her mouth. The last action was to force him / her to take medication. Moreover, seeking medical advice (96.4%), and no need for treatment (87.2%) were the top of the suggestions, while use of acupuncture (9.4%), was the least suggestion.
Chart 1 shows the causes of epilepsy: mental disorder was the highest-rated as 67.7%, followed by brain disorder rated as 66.7%, and hereditary disorder was rated as 48.4%, whereas birth defect 12.8%, blood disorder 11.7%, and contagious disease 2.6% cited relatively low percentages.
Chart 2 presents the distribution of symptoms of epilepsy: convulsions and shaking were the highest 96.4%, followed by loss of consciousness 85.7%, change of behavior 44%, and amnesia 40.1%. 976 Table 3 shows the correlation between participants' socioeconomic data and their awareness, knowledge, and attitudes. According to the gender and education level of participants, there were no significant differences in awareness, knowledge, and attitudes. However, according to the age, there were significant differences in awareness (p=0.000) and attitudes (p=0.000) between age group, but that not in knowledge (p=0.0445). Awareness (p=0.000) and attitudes (p =0.000) showed significant differences based on marital status, but there was no difference according to the knowledge (p = 0.091). Finally, there were significant differences in awareness (p=0.001) and attitudes (p=0.00) based on occupation, but not according to knowledge (p=0.406).

Discussion:-
Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological diseases. However, the treatments of epilepsy in general, are very effective. Also, the patients could return to their normal life and stop taking their medication gradually if they were free from seizures for two or five years (WHO, 2019). Even though, until now there is a misunderstanding towards epilepsy. The present study was done in the Hail region, which was similar to previous studies that have been applied in many cities of Saudi Arabia, investigated participants' awareness, knowledge, and attitudes about epilepsy. The current study showed 94.8% had heard or read about epilepsy, 60.7% knew someone with epilepsy, and 57% seen somebody in a seizure. These results compared with several studies were done in Riyadh (Alaqeel and Sabbagh, 2013), Qassim (Alsohibani et al., 2019), and Asser (Alhazzani et al., 2016) were relatively close to each other. In our study, we found only 12% would prevent their children from socializing with a child with epilepsy, which that slightly less than what has been noted in Alhazzani's study (17.6%). Furthermore, there were 36.5% stated that they will object if their son or daughter decides to marry someone with epilepsy, while the percentages in Qassim 45.1%, Jeddah 49% (Haneef et al., 2014) and Majmaah 21.1% (Almutairi et al., 2016). Apart from that,78.4% agreed that patients with epilepsy should not be prevented from a job because of their condition. Similarly, the previous percentage showed a close rate to Asser's study (77.1%). There were only 7 participants who believed that epilepsy is a form of insanity and that was similar to what Alsohibani found in his study. Regarding the treatment of epilepsy, seeking medical advice was the top of suggestions in the current study (96.4%). In comparison, that was the same as the studies that have been done in Riyadh, and Qassim, respectively (49.3%, 96.5%), while there were 87.2% suggested that there is no need for treatment, and that could be because of the lack of knowledge. In the current study, the top of causes of epilepsy were a mental disorder (67.7%) followedby brain disorder (66.7%), these results were more than what Alhazzani found (29.5% , 21%), but slightly close to the result of the study that has been done in Qassim (61.9% , 68.1). Keeping the patient away from danger (92.4%) was the top of the actions towards a patient experiencing a seizure, which was higher than what Aqeel found in Riyadh (68.6%). Whereas there were 14.1% chose to use herbal medicine, which was less than what has been found in Asser region (68.9%). Because of the restriction of the questionnaire by the Email a lot of volunteers haven't answered it, because they do not have an email or do not know how to log in.

Conclusion:-
The results of this study show a fairly good level of awareness, positive attitudes and slightly low level of knowledge in the Hail region, Without a doubt, Hail community needs an increase in education about epilepsy, and necessary measures must be taken to raise the level of knowledge about symptoms, causes, and treatment of epilepsy to help eliminate misconceptions among members of society.

Ethical approval:
This research was performed following the approval of the ethical committee in the College of Medicine, UOH.

Funding:
No funding has been received for this study.

Conflict of interest statement:
There is no conflict related to this study among the authors.