Aldawood Esraa, Aldawood Zainab, Alfhili Mohammad
Department of Clinical Laboratory Science, College of Applied Medical Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11433, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Family and Child Support Center, International Medical Center (IMC), Thuwal, 6900, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
J Multidiscip Healthc. 2024 Aug 28;17:4155-4163. doi: 10.2147/JMDH.S474581. eCollection 2024.
Congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) is the most prevalent congenital infection in the world. It can result in various neurodevelopmental disorders, one of which is environmental hearing loss among children. This study aimed to assess the awareness and knowledge of cCMV among audiologists and speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in Saudi Arabia and to seek their perception of it. An online survey was conducted from May to June 2023, targeting participants through social media, and a descriptive and inferential analysis was performed. A total of 107 participants (31 audiologists and 76 SLPs) were enrolled in this study. Awareness about cCMV was significantly higher among audiologists (84%) compared to SLPs (49%) (-value < 0.001). However, both groups exhibited poor cCMV knowledge, which was revealed by their low mean knowledge scores (6.8/14 for audiologists and 5.7/14 for SLPs). The difference between their mean scores was non-significant (-value > 0.05). The majority of SLPs and audiologists agreed that it is crucial for them to learn more about cCMV to enrich their professional backgrounds. This study emphasized the necessity for cCMV education for audiologists and SLPs. Increased awareness and knowledge may allow them to be more mindful of cCMV symptoms and therefore provide enhanced service to their pediatric patients.
先天性巨细胞病毒（cCMV）感染是全球最常见的先天性感染。它可导致各种神经发育障碍，其中之一是儿童的感音神经性听力损失。本研究旨在评估沙特阿拉伯听力学家和言语语言病理学家（SLP）对cCMV的认知和了解情况，并了解他们对cCMV的看法。2023年5月至6月进行了一项在线调查，通过社交媒体针对参与者展开，同时进行了描述性和推断性分析。本研究共纳入了107名参与者（31名听力学家和76名SLP）。听力学家对cCMV的知晓率（84%）显著高于SLP（49%）（P值<0.001）。然而，两组对cCMV的了解都较差，这从他们较低的平均知识得分中可以看出（听力学家为6.8/14，SLP为5.7/14）。他们平均得分之间的差异不显著（P值>0.05）。大多数SLP和听力学家都认为，对他们来说，更多地了解cCMV以丰富其专业背景至关重要。本研究强调了对听力学家和SLP进行cCMV教育的必要性。提高认知和了解程度可能会使他们更加关注cCMV症状，从而为儿科患者提供更好的服务。
