Undescended testis: Knowledge and Practice Among Primary Care Physicians in Bahrain

Abstract

Background & Objectives: Un-descended testis (UDT) is the most common congenital anomaly in male newborns. Spontaneous descent of testes does not occur beyond six months of age. As Bahrain has a universal child screening program, primary care physicians are the first physicians to encounter these children. This study aimed to investigate the knowledge of UDT, its work up and management among primary care physicians in Bahrain. Awareness of recent guidelines and current recommended practices in management were evaluated. Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was based on a self-administered 12-item questionnairewith questions about incidence, pathophysiology, examination, management and complications of undescended testes, which was distributed among 101 among primary care physicians. Data was expressed as mean±standard deviation and measures of central tendency were used for descriptive analysis. P value was set at <0.05. Results: An equal number of family physicians and pediatricians completed the survey, while general practitioners formed the lowest proportion of responders. Most of the responders had at least 5 years of experience (72.3%) and encountered an average of one to four cases of UDT per year (70.3%). With respect to the knowledge of UDT and specialty (p >0.05), work experience (p >0.05) or annual case load (p >0.05) was observed. The average score in this cohort was 5.9 out of a maximum of 10 points. About 50.5% of the respondents scored between 5 and 6 points (50.5%). Conclusions:A remarkablegap in the knowledge about the different aspects of UDT amongst primary care physicians was documented.