Public Awareness about Medicine Information, Safety, and Adverse Drug Reaction (ADR) Reporting in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

Md. Ashraful Islam,Aseel Fuad Al-Karasneh,Sarah Al-Badrani,Raghad Al-Salem,Fatimah Al-Hayek,Dhfer Mahdi AlShayban,Syed Azizullah Ghori,Atta Abbas Naqvi

doi:10.3390/pharmacy8040222

Md. Ashraful Islam, Aseel Fuad Al-Karasneh + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmacy8040222

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Abstract

This study aimed to assess public knowledge about medicine information, safety, and adverse drug reaction reporting (ADR) in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. A cross sectional study was conducted using purposive stratified sampling in different settings of Dammam city for three months (January–March 2020). The target population was identified as consumers who had used the medicines in the last 3 months. The questionnaire was adopted from the literature and was validated. Content and face validities were established, and reliability was assessed. The study was approved by the concerned ethics committee. A total of 915 participants returned completed questionnaires. A total of 54.4% participants aged between 18 and 30 years, 65.8% were females and 53.1% had obtained bachelor level education. The mean score for knowledge of medicines (K1) was 5.46 ± 1.07. The mean score for knowledge regarding medication safety (K2) was 5.94 ± 1.73. The mean score for tendency to report a suspected ADR (T1) was 3.43 ± 1.57. Gender was a determinant of knowledge regarding medication safety (K2) (p < 0.01) and ADR reporting tendency (T1) (p < 0.01). The marital status of patients was a determinant for both knowledge of medicines (K1) (p < 0.01) and, knowledge regarding medication safety (K2) (p < 0.01). The results of this study highlighted that although the scores for knowledge of medicines, and tendency to report ADR were better, the score for knowledge regarding medication safety was unsatisfactory.

Highlights

One of the most important aspects of post marketing surveillance is the detection of adverse drug reactions (ADR) through spontaneous reporting (SR) [1]
This study aimed to assess the public knowledge about medicine information, safety and adverse drug reaction reporting in Saudi Arabia
Consumers from different age groups and genders who had used medicines in the last three months were included in the study

Summary

Introduction

One of the most important aspects of post marketing surveillance is the detection of adverse drug reactions (ADR) through spontaneous reporting (SR) [1]. Available evidence mentions the importance of patient reports as a credible source of information about the safety of new drugs [1]. Spontaneous reporting (SR) is a novel mechanism within the pharmacovigilance system to detect ADRs early; that were not reported previously. These ADRs could be rare and may be life threatening [1,2,3]. Monitoring for Pharmacy 2020, 8, 222; doi:10.3390/pharmacy8040222 www.mdpi.com/journal/pharmacy

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