Objective: We aim to investigate the public Egyptian knowledge and attitude towards PD.

Background: In Egypt, the PD prevalence reached 316.50 per 100,000 people. Given that there are no regular health check-ups for the elderly populations,  the diagnosis of PD depends mainly on the individual health-seeking behaviour of the patients and relatives which is guided by their knowledge and beliefs about the disease’s severity, susceptibility and perceived benefits of early diagnosis. Therefore, public awareness of PD is reflected in the health-seeking behaviour and the timing of diagnosis, which highlight the necessity of studying the public knowledge and attitude towards PD.

Method: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among adult Egyptians from Aug to Dec 2021 using a predesigned structured questionnaire which consisted of 19 questions covered items regarding knowledge about aetiology, risk factors, diagnosis and therapeutic options for PD with a total score of 0 to 19, also, five questions were designed to assess the attitude towards patients with PD with a total score of 0 to 5. Higher scores indicate higher knowledge and positive attitude. The face and content validity of the questionnaire was assessed by a jury of specialists.We used a mixed method of data collection (online and face to face) to allow access to all type of the population. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS 25, statistical analysis was done using two tailed tests, and P value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: The total participants were 1487 with a mean age of 23.68 ± 8.04. The mean knowledge score was 15.17± 6.13.  The item that represented the highest knowledge gap was the availability of surgical treatments for PD (3.1% correct answer). Tremors was the most known symptom of PD (85.9%);  sleep problems were the most recognized non-motor symptom (NMS) (45.1%). More than half of the participants (65.5%) reported feeling sad and supportive towards PD patients, and the majority of them were willing to be a carer for a family member with PD (90.1%). Male gender and lower level of education were statistically significant predictors for public low knowledge about PD. In addition, feeling uncomfortable when dealing with PD patients was significantly associated with poor knowledge of PD.

Conclusion: Critical gaps in knowledge were found which highlighted the need for  awareness campaigns about PD.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/knowledge-and-attitude-of-egyptian-general-public-towards-parkinson-disease-a-cross-sectional-study-in-egypt/