Awareness of systemic lupus erythematosus among primary health care patients in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

OBJECTIVES: To measure the levels of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) awareness among patients in primary health care (PHC) at King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC), Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and to explore the factors which influence the SLE awareness. METHODS: The study was a cross-sectional study conducted between February and September 2018 in 4 PHC centers at KAMC. The study participants were male and female adult visitors to the centers age from 18-60 years. The sample size was 400 participants. The participants were enrolled via a random convenience sampling method. Study data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire. Analytic statistics were carried out using the Chi-square test for associations or the differences between 2 categorical variables. A p≤0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: Most of the participants in our study were unaware of SLE. This indicates poor knowledge about the disease. There were no statistically significant differences in awareness about SLE between males and females (p=0.304), but there were significant differences according to education levels (p=0.023), and between knowing a person who had been diagnosed with SLE and caring for him or her (p=0.020). CONCLUSION: The study shows that this survey is valuable and beneficial to the community as it helps people to assess their knowledge about SLE and become aware of this disease, as well as awareness of SLE should be promoted among the community.