Batais Mohammed Ali, Almigbal Turky H, Bin Abdulhak Aref A, Altaradi Hani B, AlHabib Khalid F
Department of Family and Community Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Division of Cardiovascular Disease, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, Iowa, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2017 Aug 17;12(8):e0183494. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0183494. eCollection 2017.
The scarcity of familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) cases reported in Saudi Arabia might be indicative of a lack of awareness of this common genetic disease among physicians.
To assess physicians' awareness, practice, and knowledge of FH in Saudi Arabia.
This is a cross-sectional study conducted among physicians at four tertiary hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia between March 2016 and May 2016 using a self-administered questionnaire.
A total of 294 physicians completed the survey (response rate 90.1%). Overall, 92.9% of the participants have poor knowledge of FH while only 7.1% have acceptable knowledge. The majority (68.7%) of physicians rated their familiarity with FH as average or above average, and these had higher mean knowledge scores than participants with self-reported below average familiarity (mean 3.4 versus 2.6) (P < 0.001). Consultant physicians were 4.2 times more likely to be familiar with FH than residents or registrars (OR = 4.2, 95% CI = 1.9-9.1, P < 0.001). Physicians who currently managed FH patients had higher mean knowledge scores compared to those without FH patients in their care (3.5 versus 2.9) (P = 0.006). In addition, there were statistically significant differences between physicians' mean knowledge scores and their ages, levels of training, and years in practice. Moreover, a substantial deficit was identified in the awareness of various clinical algorithms to diagnose patients with FH, cascade screening, specialist lipid services, and the existence of statin alternatives, such as proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors.
A substantial deficit was found in the awareness, knowledge, practice, and detection of FH among physicians in Saudi Arabia. Extensive educational programs are required to raise physician awareness and implement best practices; only then can the impact of these interventions on FH management and patient outcome be assessed.
沙特阿拉伯报告的家族性高胆固醇血症（FH）病例稀缺，这可能表明医生对这种常见遗传病缺乏认识。
评估沙特阿拉伯医生对FH的认识、实践和知识。
这是一项横断面研究，于2016年3月至2016年5月期间在沙特阿拉伯利雅得的四家三级医院对医生进行，使用自填式问卷。
共有294名医生完成了调查（回复率90.1%）。总体而言，92.9%的参与者对FH了解不足，只有7.1%的人有可接受的知识水平。大多数（68.7%）医生将他们对FH的熟悉程度评为中等或以上，这些医生的平均知识得分高于自我报告熟悉程度低于中等的参与者（平均3.4对2.6）（P<0.001）。顾问医生熟悉FH的可能性是住院医生或专科住院医生的4.2倍（OR = 4.2，95% CI = 1.9 - 9.1，P<0.001）。目前管理FH患者的医生的平均知识得分高于那些没有管理FH患者的医生（3.5对2.9）（P = 0.006）。此外，医生的平均知识得分与他们的年龄、培训水平和执业年限之间存在统计学上的显著差异。此外，在诊断FH患者的各种临床算法、级联筛查、专科血脂服务以及他汀类药物替代物（如前蛋白转化酶枯草溶菌素/kexin 9型（PCSK9）抑制剂）的存在方面，发现了明显的认识不足。
沙特阿拉伯医生在FH的认识、知识、实践和检测方面存在明显不足。需要开展广泛教育项目以提高医生的认识并实施最佳实践；只有这样才能评估这些干预措施对FH管理和患者结局的影响。
