Evaluation of COVID-19 myths in Saudi Arabia

Noara K. Alhusseini; Muhammad R. Sajid; Haifa A. Alsheikh; Tala H. Sriwi; Nour B. Odeh; Rawan E. Elshaer; Rawand E. Altamimi; Peter M.B. Cahusac

doi:10.15537/smj.2021.42.4.20200706

Article Figures & Data

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Table 1

- Sociodemographic data of respondents.

Variables	n	%
Gender
Female	812	56.5
Male	624	43.5
Age (years)
18-30	770	53.6
30-45	385	26.8
>45	281	19.6
Educational level
Bachelor’s degree	751	52.3
High school diploma or less	484	33.7
Master’s degree or higher	201	14.0
City
Riyadh	1033	71.9
Jeddah	167	11.6
others	236	16.4
Nationality
Saudi	1174	81.6
Non-Saudi	265	18.4
Occupation
Health care provider	461	32.1
Non-health care provider	975	67.9
Household income (SAR)
<3000	68	4.7
3000-9999	195	13.6
10000-25000	351	24.4
>25000	338	23.5
Prefer not to answer	484	33.7

Values are presented as number and percentages (%).

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Table 2

- Responses assessing knowledge in reply to questions. Which of the following actions help prevent catching an infection with COVID-19.

Questions	Yes	No	I do not know
Wearing a mask	1396 (97.2)	24 (1.7)	16 (1.1)
Getting a vaccine against pneumonia	162 (11.3)	620 (43.2)	654 (45.5)
Gargling mouthwash	299 (20.8)	738 (51.4)	399 (27.8)
Washing hands with soap and water for 20-30 seconds	1405 (97.8)	31 (2.2)	0 (0)
Eating garlic	351 (24.4)	603 (42.0)	482 (33.6)
Avoiding close contact with sick people	1403 (97.7)	17 (1.2)	16 (1.1)
Taking antibiotics	110 (7.7)	942 (65.6)	384 (26.7)
Using hand sanitizer	1376 (95.8)	34 (2.4)	26 (1.8)
Putting sesame oil on skin	16 (1.1)	1065 (74.2)	355 (24.7)
Avoid touching eyes nose and mouth with unwashed hands	1411 (98.3)	15 (1.0)	10 (0.7)
Regularly rinsing nose with saline	251 (17.5)	646 (45.0)	539 (37.5)
Drinking bleach and chlorine products	16 (1.1)	1317 (91.7)	103 (7.2)
Taking prophylactic chloroquine	73 (5.1)	850 (59.2)	513 (35.7)

Values are presented as number and percentages (%).

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Table 3

- Responses to the common signs and symptoms of COVID-19.

Symptoms	Yes	No	I don’t know
Nose bleeds	52 (3.6)	1019 (71.0)	365 (25.4)
Cough	1344 (93.6)	40 (2.8)	52 (3.6)
Fever	1428 (99.4)	2 (0.1)	6(0.4)
Skin rash	129 (9.0)	908 (63.2)	399 (27.8)
Constipation	109 (7.6)	882 (61.4)	445 (31.0)
Shortness of breath	1415 (98.5)	5 (0.3)	16 (1.1)
Frequent urination	32 (2.2)	887 (61.8)	517 (36.0)
Body aches	1168 (81.3)	88 (6.1)	180 (12.5)

Values arepresented as number and percentages (%).

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Table 4

- Responses to the main ways in which people are currently getting infected with the COVID-19. Respondents could choose more than one or all options from the following options.

Options	n	%
Eating or touching bats	243	16.9
Fecal contaminants in drinking water	77	5.4
Unhygienic preparation of food	210	14.6
Sexual intercourse or sharing of needles for drug use	175	12.2
Mosquito bites	32	2.2
Droplets of saliva that land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby when an infected person sneezes or coughs	1338	93.2
Eating under cooked meat products	131	9.1
Directly coming into touch with someone’s bodily fluids like blood, vomit, or sweat	494	34.4
Coming into contact with camels	37	2.6

Values are presented as number and percentages (%).

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Table 5

- Model coefficients- Q13 overall score.

Predictor	Estimate	SE	t	P-value	Stand. estimate
Intercept	6.6276	0.41239	16.071	<0.0001
Health care provider
Health care provider
Non-healthcare provider	1.0925	0.15504	7.047	<0.0001	0.3909
Age	-0.0609	0.00657	-9.261	<0.0001	-0.2730
Level of education
Bachelor’s degree
High school, diploma or less	0.1080	0.15506	0.696	0.4864	0.0386
Master’s degree or higher	0.7685	0.24309	3.161	0.0016	0.2750
High school diploma or less
Gender
FemaleMale	-0.2886	0.14016	-2.059	0.0396	-0.1033
Salary (Saudi Riyals)
I prefer not to answer	1.1676	0.32794	3.561	0.0004	0.4177
3000-9999	0.3466	0.35667	0.972	0.3314	0.1240
10000-25000	1.1474	0.33605	3.414	0.0007	0.4105
>25000	2.1972	0.33961	6.470	<0.0001	0.7861

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Table 6

- Model coefficients- Q15 overall score.

Predictor	Estimate	SE	t	P-value	Stand. estimate
Intercept	5.7622	0.30043	19.180	<0.0001
Health care provider
Health care provider
Non-healthcare provider	0.5655	0.11295	5.006	<0.0001	0.30398
Age	0.0005	0.00479	0.105	0.9163	0.00339
Level of education
Bachelor’s degree
High school, diploma or less	0.1961	0.11296	1.736	0.0828	0.10540
Master’s degree or higher	0.1678	0.17709	0.947	0.3436	0.09019
High school diploma or less
Gender
Female
Male	-0.2229	0.10211	-2.183	0.0292	-0.11983
Salary (Saudi Riyals)
I prefer not to answer	0.1070	0.23890	0.448	0.6544	0.05751
3000-9999	0.1392	0.25983	0.536	0.5922	0.07484
10000-25000	0.0874	0.24481	0.357	0.7210	0.04700
>25000	0.1903	0.24741	0.769	0.4420	0.10229