Evaluation of Parents Knowledge about the Dangerous Effect of Excessive Use of Antibiotics on Children with URTIs in Saudi Arabia, 2017

Aljohani, Maram Mohammed; Alakhmimi, Mai Khalid; Alalmaei, Abdulaziz Zaher; Alturaigi, Hamood Sulaiman; Alshareef, Musab Shakir; Aldughaythir, Saad Saleh; Alenazi, Ahmed Abdullah Saleh; Alamri, Seba Ghaithan; Alsahafi, Rawan Ahmad; Alrajhi, Furat Mohammed

doi:10.12816/0040631

Evaluation of Parents Knowledge about the Dangerous Effect of Excessive Use of Antibiotics on Children with URTIs in Saudi Arabia, 2017

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ King Abdulaziz University

² Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University

³ King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University For Health Sciences

⁴ Ibn Sina National College

10.12816/0040631

Abstract

Background: upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) are highly encountered by children all over the world with repeating episodes from 6-8 times during the year. However being of viral origin and a self-limited disease, many parents’ attitudes forces physician to use antibiotics thus resulting in antibiotic resistance.
Objectives: to study the parental knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) toward antibiotic use among children with URTIs in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Methods: a self-administered questionnaire was distributed among parents presented at a random sample of primary schools in KSA from February 2017 to June 2017.
Results: a total of 547 parents were included from different parts of KSA, most of them were females, graduated from a college and received a moderate income. Overall, KAP toward using antibiotics in URTI for children was very low among 72% of subjects and was good in only 28% of subjects showing that there was inappropriate level of KAP among the studied population.
Conclusion: Saudi parents have inadequate knowledge about antibiotic use in children for treating URTIs that showed incorrect answers for attitudes and practices.

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