A Cross-Sectional Study of Tuberculosis Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice Among the General Population in the Western Region of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background Religious gatherings like the Hajj, an Islamic pilgrimage, attract millions of people to one place during the same time frame. Due to crowding, infectious diseases, specifically tuberculosis (TB), are very common during such events. This study investigates the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of the public in the western region of Saudi Arabia related to TB to better understand the situation. Methodology An observational, questionnaire-based, cross-sectional study was conducted over two months between January and March 2022. A survey of 29 questions was used to collect data from the general population. The study included any person who was a resident of Makkah. Individuals under 18 years of age and health workers were excluded. We used OpenEpi, version 3.0, for sample size calculation, which gave a result of 604 participants, and SPSS version 25.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) was used for data analysis. Results A total of 604 participants were included in this study; 64.7% of respondents showed poor overall knowledge, and 14.1% had good knowledge of TB. Concerning attitude, 89.9% of the respondents showed poor attitude, and only 2.3% had a good attitude. As for practice, 59.4% of respondents had poor knowledge of proper practices, and only 10.4% knew the right practices regarding TB. Upon further analysis of our results, women exhibited better knowledge of TB than men (0.62, 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.44-0.87). Participants over 50 years old had the lowest knowledge about TB compared with participants aged 18 to 28 years old (7.61, 95% CI, 4.35-13.32). Non-Saudi residents had less knowledge compared with Saudi residents (45.849, 95% CI, 18.475-113.78). Level of education also played a substantial role; university graduates had the most knowledge about TB compared with participants with below university or no formal education (0.052, 95% CI, 0.01-0.40). Conclusions Participants with lower educational backgrounds were the most lacking in knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding TB. This lack of knowledge was more common among non-Saudi men over 50 years old. Information campaigns are needed to help reduce the prevalence of TB.

Keywords: hajj; infection control; public health; respiratory disease; tuberculosis.