Public Awareness towards Renal Stone Causes, Symptoms and Management amongst Saudis

摘要

Introduction : renal stone is an important health problem in the world and is the most common disease in urinary tract system. It is particularly a common problem in areas of hot climate like Saudi Arabia. Knowledge and lifestyle attitude of individuals towards renal stone plays a role in delivering optimum management. Aim : to determine the public awareness of renal stones causes, symptoms and management amongst Saudis. Patients and Methods : the data of this quantitative cross-sectional study was collected from participants from two regions in Saudi Arabia. Participants were given a self-administered questionnaire written in Arabic from October 2017 till November 2017. Individuals under the age of 18, tourists, medical staff and people unable to read Arabic were excluded. Data were analyzed using SPSS. Results : four hundred and seven participants with a mean age of 35 filled the questionnaire. About half of them had experienced renal stones either personally or in a direct family member. 91.4% of them are aware that increased water intake decreases the formation of renal stones. As for symptoms of urinary stones, 65.36% of them thought that pain and other urinary symptoms would occur when having urinary stones. Radiology imaging was the most chosen mode of diagnosing urinary tract stones especially amongst participants above the age of 35 (p-value= 0.002) with surgical intervention as the best treatment according to the participants. 57.2% of the participants believe that drinking parsley water prevents the formation of renal stones. Individuals who experienced renal stones before were more knowledgeable about the commonest type of renal stones (p-value= 0.005) and the quantity of recommended daily fluid intake (p-value= 0.008). Conclusion and Recommendation : this data indicates that the participants are to some degree aware of some aspects of renal stone prevention, symptoms and modes of diagnosis and treatment. Individuals who experienced renal stones were more knowledgeable in some aspects. Further emphasis on public awareness of renal stones is recommended.