Awareness and attitudes toward epilepsy among medical students and interns in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Item request has been placed! ×
Item request cannot be made. ×
loading   Processing Request
Connect Read More Add to Saved list
  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: Cambridge University Press Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 100897390 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1477-1128 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 14634236 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Prim Health Care Res Dev Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Publication: Cambridge : Cambridge University Press
      Original Publication: London : Arnold, c2000-
    • Subject Terms:
      Students, Medical* ; Epilepsy*/diagnosis ; Epilepsy*/epidemiology; Humans ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Saudi Arabia/epidemiology ; Surveys and Questionnaires
    • Abstract:
      Background: Epilepsy is a common neurological condition. It affects around 1% of the global population. This study aims to evaluate the knowledge and attitudes toward epilepsy.
      Methods: This is a cross-sectional observational study. An online questionnaire was distributed to medical students in their clinical and preclinical years and interns at Riyadh's four public universities. Then a comparison was made to see whether attending more courses in medical school would influence the students' knowledge and attitudes.
      Results: In the present study, 95% of medical students had heard about epilepsy or convulsive seizures (a significantly larger proportion of clinical students had heard about epilepsy than preclinical students (99.0% versus 92%, P -value = 0.000)). Furthermore, 34.0% believed that epilepsy could be treated. Moreover, 79.1% of those polled claimed that brain disease originated from epilepsy, followed by genetic factors (64.1%) and convulsions (92.3%) as the most common symptoms.
      Conclusion: Regarding medical students' awareness of epilepsy, it turns out that it is good and better than reported in other research, especially among clinical students rather than preclinical students, who have a negative attitude toward epileptic patients. Consequently, there is a need to further development of their knowledge throughout future campaigns and conferences, and curricula that should be tailored to help improve awareness and attitudes toward epilepsy.
    • References:
      Seizure. 2007 Sep;16(6):521-6. (PMID: 17543545)
      Epilepsy Behav. 2009 Feb;14(2):367-71. (PMID: 19118640)
      Epilepsy Behav. 2011 Feb;20(2):286-90. (PMID: 21277263)
      Epilepsy Behav. 2013 Oct;29(1):234-7. (PMID: 24034673)
      Epilepsy Behav. 2016 May;58:115-8. (PMID: 27070860)
      Epilepsia. 1955 Nov;4:99-107. (PMID: 13305555)
      Epilepsia. 2011 Aug;52(8):1376-81. (PMID: 21627649)
      Arq Neuropsiquiatr. 2007 Jun;65 Suppl 1:43-8. (PMID: 17581667)
      Epilepsia. 2004 Nov;45(11):1405-15. (PMID: 15509242)
      Epilepsy Behav. 2014 Dec;41:238-43. (PMID: 25461223)
      Epilepsia. 2007 Oct;48(10):1914-9. (PMID: 17634066)
      Epilepsy Behav. 2020 Jan;102:106815. (PMID: 31837506)
      Seizure. 2012 May;21(4):245-9. (PMID: 22310171)
      Seizure. 2005 Dec;14(8):593-6. (PMID: 16246597)
      Epilepsy Behav. 2015 Nov;52(Pt A):251-5. (PMID: 26476403)
      Epilepsy Behav. 2009 Jan;14(1):71-7. (PMID: 18778793)
      SAGE Open Med. 2021 Jan 28;9:2050312121991248. (PMID: 33614036)
      Epilepsy Behav. 2010 Jul;18(3):247-53. (PMID: 20627815)
      Arq Neuropsiquiatr. 2004 Dec;62(4):1068-73. (PMID: 15608971)
      Epilepsy Behav. 2011 Mar;20(3):447-9. (PMID: 21292559)
    • Contributed Indexing:
      Keywords: Saudi Arabia; epilepsy; medical students; seizures
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20221111 Date Completed: 20221114 Latest Revision: 20221214
    • Publication Date:
      20240829
    • Accession Number:
      PMC9706306
    • Accession Number:
      10.1017/S1463423622000597
    • Accession Number:
      36367324