Abstract
To evaluate Lebanese licensed dietitians' knowledge, prevalence of use and recommendation of dietary supplements (DS), and their associated factors. Cross-sectional survey. Dietitians across Lebanon were contacted through the telephone and were asked to participate in the study. An online self-administered questionnaire was designed and sent to dietitians either by email or by WhatsApp, between 4 March and 4 May 2020. This study included 319 dietitians randomly selected from the dietitians' list that was provided by the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health. Around 75 % of dietitians had a knowledge score above 50 %. Overall, 73·7 % of them have used DS and 46·1 % have recommended them. Higher knowledge score was associated with less years of experience, using scientific articles as source of information on DS, and participating in research. Resorting to pharmacists was significantly associated with both nutrient supplements (NS) and herbal supplements (HS) use, whereas referring to health food stores was associated with HS use only. NS recommendation to patients was associated with personal NS use (OR = 3·38, P < 0·001), considering pharmacists as a source of information on DS (OR = 2·29, P = 0·01) and discussing DS with patients (OR = 3·82, P = 0·01). Having personally used HS (OR = 12·23, P < 0·001) and having discussed DS with patients (OR = 8·51, P = 0·01) increased the likelihood of recommending HS. A proper DS education, the elaboration of national scientific guidelines and the implementation of concise laws regarding the regulations of DS would play a crucial role in supporting dietitians' practices and improving the quality of patient care with respect to DS.
Highlights
Demographic and lifestyle characteristics Of the 1038 dietitians contacted by telephone, 9·5 % actively refused to participate and the survey was sent to 869 dietitians
After excluding students, retired or unemployed dietitians, and those working in the community, food safety, education and non-nutrition fields, 319 dietitians were included in the study (Fig. 1)
More than the half of them (56·7 %) did not attend any campaign on dietary supplements (DS)
Summary
Study design and population A cross-sectional study was conducted on all LD enlisted in the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) in Lebanon. The. Data collection Selected dietitians were contacted by telephone and were asked to participate in the study. Data collection Selected dietitians were contacted by telephone and were asked to participate in the study Following their agreement over the phone, a link to the online questionnaire was sent either by email or by WhatsApp. Only one response was Supplements’ use, practices and knowledge. To identify factors associated with knowledge score, personal use of DS and with DS recommendation to patients, bivariate analyses were conducted using Pearson’s correlation to test the relationship between two continuous variables, χ2 and Fisher’s exact tests to compare proportions for categorical variables, independent sample t test to compare means for dichotomous variables and oneway ANOVA or Kruskal–Wallis test to compare means for polytomous variables. Data were processed and analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences software, version 25.0
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