A study on knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding dengue fever, its prevention and management among dengue patients presenting to a tertiary care hospital in Sri Lanka

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization (WHO) has ranked dengue as one of the top ten threats to Global health in 2019. Sri Lanka faced a massive dengue epidemic in 2017, the largest outbreak in the country during the last three decades, consisting of 186,101 reported cases, and over 320 deaths. The epidemic was controlled by intense measures taken by the health sector. However, the reported dengue cases and dengue deaths in 2019 were significantly higher than that of 2018. Deaths were mostly due to delay in hospitalization of severe dengue patients. The mortality of dengue hemorrhagic fever is 2–5% if detected early and treated promptly, but is high as 20% if left untreated. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was done among patients with dengue fever presenting to the Sri Jayawardenepura General Hospital during October 2019. Data was collected using a questionnaire comprising 20 questions based on knowledge, attitudes and practices on dengue, which were categorized into questions on awareness of mortality and severity of dengue burden, prevention of dengue vector mosquito breeding and acquiring the infection, patient’s role in dengue management, and warning signs requiring prompt hospitalization. RESULTS: The mean KAP score on all questions was 55%, while a majority of 65.2% patients scored moderate KAP scores (50–75%) on all questions, and only 7.6% had high KAP scores (> 75%). The highest categorical mean score of 62% was on awareness of dengue prevention, followed by 54% on awareness of dengue burden, and only 51% on dengue management. Only 5.3% patients scored high scores on awareness of dengue management, followed by 28.5%, and 40.9% patients scoring high scores on awareness of dengue burden, and awareness of prevention of dengue respectively. The mean KAP scores on all questions increased with increasing age category. CONCLUSION: The population relatively has a better awareness of dengue prevention, as compared to awareness of dengue mortality and dengue management. The identified weak point is patient awareness of the patients’ role in dengue management, and identifying warning signs requiring prompt hospitalization. This results in delay in treatment, which is a major cause for increased mortality. There was a correlation between those who had good knowledge on dengue burden and those who were aware of patients’ role in dengue management. An action plan should be implemented to improve public awareness through education programs on the role of the public and patients in dengue management to drive a better outcome. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12879-021-06685-5.