Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Oct 30;27(3):164-171.
doi: 10.4103/meajo.MEAJO_219_20. eCollection 2020 Jul-Sep.

Evaluation of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices toward the Outbreak Pandemic (COVID-19) Virus Disease among Ophthalmologists: A Cross-Sectional Study

Hani B ALBalawi  1 , Naif M Alali  1
Affiliations

Evaluation of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices toward the Outbreak Pandemic (COVID-19) Virus Disease among Ophthalmologists: A Cross-Sectional Study

Hani B ALBalawi et al. Middle East Afr J Ophthalmol. .

Abstract

Purpose: The objective was to evaluate ophthalmologists' KAP toward the outbreak of the pandemic COVID-19 disease.

Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted during the period of the global outbreak of COVID-19, between April 8 and April 18, 2020. A sample of 120 ophthalmologists was chosen by a stratified method. The online survey was used to obtain information about respondents' KAP toward COVID-19.

Results: The study participants included 120 ophthalmologists and ophthalmologists under training out of the targeted 163 ophthalmologists who were invited to participate, giving a response rate of 73.6%. Ophthalmology residents represent 40.8%, whereas consultants represent 32.5% of them. Nearly 40.8% of the participants were aged between 31 and 40 years. Overall, the percentage of COVID-19 knowledge score ranged between 56% and 100% with a median (interquartile range [IQR]) of 80% (76%-88%). Overall, the percentage score of attitude toward COVID-19 ranged between 13.3% and 100% with a median (IQR) of 73.3% (46.7%-88.0%). Although the safety precaution attitude toward COVID-19 was highest among ophthalmologists aged over 50 years, the difference did not reach a statistical significance. Other studied factors were not significantly associated with the score of percentage of attitude toward COVID-19.

Conclusion: KAP among ophthalmologists in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia toward COVID-19 are optimal. However, health education campaigns are needed to reinforce the current KAP and improve the level of understanding of the risks and prevention measures that, in turn, improve the confidence of ophthalmologists to provide the right care to their patients and protect themselves as well.

Keywords: COVID-19; Corona; infectious disease transmission; knowledge; ophthalmology; practice.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The percentage of Ophthalmologists heard about coronavirus disease 2019 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during disease outbreak
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distribution of the percentage of coronavirus disease 2019 knowledge score among ophthalmologists in Saudi Arabia
Figure 3
Figure 3
Distribution of the percentage score of the attitude toward coronavirus disease 2019 among ophthalmologists in Saudi Arabia
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Raoult D, Zumla A, Locatelli F, Ippolito G, Kroemer G. Coronavirus infections: Epidemiological, clinical and immunological features and hypotheses. Cell Stress. 2020;4:66–75. - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization. Pneumonia of Unknown Cause – China. World Health Organization. 2020
    1. Li JO, Lam DS, Chen Y, Ting DS. Novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): The importance of recognising possible early ocular manifestation and using protective eyewear. Br J Ophthalmol. 2020;104:297–8. - PubMed
    1. Callaway E, Cyranoski D. New China virus: Five questions scientists are asking. Nature News: Nature. 2020;577:605–7. - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization. Laboratory Testing for 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Suspected Human Cases – Interim Guidance. World Health Organization. 2020:2020.