Abstract
Objectives: To understand the knowledge, attitude, and practice of healthcare practitioners in Saudi Arabia, with regard to vitamin D supplementation.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among healthcare practitioners in the Tabuk region of Saudi Arabia between January 2015 and December 2016. A questionnaire assessing knowledge, attitude and practice with regard to prevention of vitamin D deficiency was distributed to 100 healthcare practitioners.
Results: There was a good understanding of the importance of vitamin D deficiency; and overall practices were good. The average knowledge score was 4.75/8 (range 2-7), largely due to 85% of recipients identifying sun exposure between 6-7 am as the optimal time. There was a lack of understanding also, that as little as 10 minutes exposure is of benefit.
Conclusion: This study highlights the need for distribution of the recommendations for vitamin D supplementation in KSA, as widely as possible. This study suggests that healthcare practitioners understand the importance of correction of vitamin D deficiency. Deficiencies in knowledge with regard to sun exposure were identified. Dissemination of this information is, therefore, likely to impact significantly on the practice of a receptive clinical population.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) receives >3600 sunlight hours each year with a high UV index. Despite this, in common with other countries in the Middle East, vitamin D deficiency is common.1-6 In KSA, 40-80% of neonates have undetectable vitamin D levels at birth.6 This paradox may be explained by sociocultural factors, in particular prolonged breast-feeding without vitamin D supplementation and limited exposure to sunlight, in particular in women, due to the use of fully-covered clothing.7 Neonates born to mothers with hypovitaminosis D are at significantly higher risk of developing rickets. The American Academy of Pediatricians recommends a daily intake of 400 IU of vitamin D.8 The first recommendations for vitamin D supplementation, specifically for KSA, were published this year by King Saud University as a result of a collaborative effort between the European Society for Clinical and Economic Aspects of Osteoporosis (ESCEO) and local experts.9,10 This committee recommended supplementation with 1000-2000 IU of vitamin D daily, as a safe and feasible option, in both mothers and babies10 and acknowledged that 90-100% of pregnant women suffer vitamin D deficiency in KSA.11
In the absence of national guidelines, there has been significant variation in healthcare professionals’ attitudes towards vitamin D supplementation in KSA. A recent study demonstrated healthcare practitioners from the Dammam region to have a favorable attitude towards vitamin D supplementation.12 However, this study suggested also that knowledge and practices of healthcare practitioners could be improved. Of the 93 healthcare practitioners they enrolled, knowledge of vitamin D was excellent in only 30% and only 60% prescribed supplementation regularly. This study did not explore the underlying factors that could lead to variation in the prescription rate of vitamin D. If the incidence of vitamin D deficiency is to decrease in KSA, engagement of clinicians with the policies set out in the recent recommendations is essential.
We explored also knowledge with regard to sunlight exposure. Detailed knowledge is available with regard to vitamin D3 generation at different times of day, in different regions of Saudi Arabia, in Summer and Winter.13,14 The advice in the guidelines balances these data against the increased risk of skin cancer from UVB exposure, recommending sunlight exposure 3-4 times each week, in Summer between 9:00-10:30 and 14:00-15:00 and in Winter between 10:00-14:00.10 We conducted a survey among healthcare practitioners in the Tabuk region to understand the knowledge, attitude and practices with regard to vitamin D supplementation and the factors that contribute to any variation seen. Specifically, we addressed the hypothesis that better knowledge of vitamin D biology and the incidence and consequences of vitamin D deficiency would correlate with better attitudes and practices with regard to vitamin D supplementation.
Methods
A cross-sectional survey was conducted among healthcare practitioners in the Tabuk region of KSA between January 2015 and December 2016. Local ethical approval was given by the committee of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Tabuk (Serial number 39/052//19489). The latitude of Tabuk region is 28.3835° N, 36.5662° E. This area has a population of approximately 800,000. The healthcare practitioners who were willing to participate and complete the questionnaire were included for the study and those who are not willing to participate in the study were excluded. One hundred healthcare practitioners were invited to complete the survey, all of who replied. The study population invited represents 7% of the total available population, based on the pilot study. These practitioners were from both government and private hospitals, and represented a range of practitioners involved in child care as set out in Table 1. Face-to-face interviews were conducted, at which consent was taken, the background to the questionnaire was outlined and the questions explained. A 10-min self-administered 2-part questionnaire developed by the researchers after discussions with experts and a literature review was used to achieve the objective of the study. The first part covered demographic data that included: age, gender and number of years of practice. The second part had 8 questions each of knowledge, attitudes and practices related to Vitamin D supplementation.
We hypothesized that healthcare practitioners’ knowledge with regard to vitamin D would determine their attitudes and practices with regard to prescribing of vitamin D for supplementation in infants. To test this hypothesis, we calculated a total knowledge score for each respondent (maximum score 8) and determined if knowledge score correlated with any of the other variables assessed. There were 8 questions to assess knowledge and each correct answer carries a score of 1. The practitioners will get a score of 8, if they answered all the questions correctly and a score of 0, if they did not answer any of the questions correctly.
Continuous variables are presented as mean±standard deviation. Categorical variables are presented as exact values (total number of respondents 100). Student’s t test was conducted to test the difference between continuous variables. Pearson’s correlation test was conducted to find the association of knowledge score with continuous demographic variables (age and years of experience). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to check the association of categorical variables (gender, job type, and work location) with the knowledge score. Tukey’s post-hoc test was used to identify subgroup associations. Influence of knowledge score on attitudes was tested also using ANOVA. The influence of knowledge score on practice was tested using Point Biserial Correlation test. A 2 tailed p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Descriptive analyses were conducted with Microsoft Excel and statistical analyses were conducted with Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20.0 (SPSS Inc, IL, USA, 2016).
Results
We contacted 100 healthcare workers, all of who responded. The participants’ mean age was 36.2±10.9 years (range 23-63). Fifty-five percent were women (Table 1).
Demographic characteristics of 100 healthcare workers.
The average knowledge score of participants was 4.75±1.1 (range 2-7) with none of the participants scoring 8 (Table 2). With regard to the best time for sun exposure, respondents were given 3 choices: early in the day (6-7 am), middle of the day (9 am-4 pm) and late in the day (after 4 pm). The knowledge scores were significantly affected by 85% of respondents believing that the best time of day to get vitamin D from sun exposure was early in the day (6-7 am) and a lack of recognition that only 10 minutes exposure was needed to generate significant amounts of vitamin D (Table 3).
Distribution of knowledge score by 100 healthcare workers.
Knowledge scores in generating significant amounts of vitamin D.
With regard to attitudes to vitamin D supplementation (Table 4), overall there seemed to be good awareness of its importance, with 72% of respondents understanding that vitamin D deficiency in infancy can be prevented in the antenatal period, 73% understanding that assessment of vitamin D levels in pregnant women is essential to prevent vitamin D deficiency in infants and 84% recognizing the association between breast feeding and vitamin D deficiency. Positive attitudes were evident with 80% of respondents believing greater awareness in society to be important and 88% believing attendance at a workshop/conference to be useful in tackling this problem.
Attitudes towards prevention of vitamin D deficiency.
Practices overall were good
A majority (77%) of respondents reported prescribing vitamin D supplements for infants who are breast fed with 88% advising parents about the importance of vitamin D with 64% prescribing vitamin D for pregnant women and 80% following the recommendations of the American Pediatric Association. Sixty-seven percent prescribe vitamin D for all infants, with 400 IU being the most common dose prescribed. Only 12 respondents prescribed higher doses (600 IU n=9, 800 IU n=3). (Table 5). Correlation test of the knowledge score and 8 practices questions showed a significant positive association of knowledge with the practice regular prescription of vitamin D in infants (r=0.277; p=0.006; n=99) (Table 6). No other practices were significantly associated with the knowledge score. (using Point Biserial correlation test). Similarly, none of the attitude questions were significantly associated with knowledge scores. The only practice to be significantly associated with knowledge score was the practice of regular prescription of vitamin D in infants (p=0.006) (Table 5).
Practices of health care practitioners with regard to prevention of vitamin d deficiency.
A point biserial correlation test of knowledge score and practices
Discussion
Most of the participants had low knowledge scores. But still more than half (77%) of the healthcare practitioners surveyed, prescribed vitamin D supplementation for all infants. This percentage was higher compared with other studies. One-third of the physicians (27.1%) in an American study15 and 29% of family physicians in a study of Military Physicians16 recommended vitamin D supplementation for all infants. This suggests that physicians in Saudi Arabia are aware of the specific problem of vitamin D deficiency in Middle Eastern populations. Furthermore, although the knowledge score overall was not high, 74% of respondents recognized the importance of starting vitamin D supplementation in infancy and most (84%) were aware of the association with breast feeding. It is perhaps therefore not surprising that physicians in Saudi Arabia were more likely to prescribe vitamin D supplementation for both breast- and bottle-fed infants than American counterparts.
An important point to note here is that there is no specific recommendation from the Saudi Ministry of Health on vitamin D supplementation for infants. Eventhough different pediatric associations laid regulations for vitamin D supplementation, none of these are specific to Saudi Arabia or Middle East.8,17 Most respondents in this survey (80%) followed the American Pediatric Association guidelines, which recommend a lower dose than the King Saud University recommendations. Furthermore, the low knowledge scores were driven largely by poor understanding of the benefits and physiology of sun exposure. Specifically, in Saudi Arabia, it has been shown that the effectiveness of sun exposure in generating vitamin D differs through the day. The optimal time for peak vitamin D generation differs by region and by season. However, overall midday is optimal for vitamin D generation, although the high UVB exposure at this time may moderate recommendations with regard to the optimal time for sun exposure given the cancer risk.13 These findings underline the importance of detailed knowledge with regard to sun exposure and vitamin D for physicians in KSA. At the optimum time of day as little as 10 minutes exposure generates significant amounts of vitamin D. This survey highlighted a lack of understanding of the importance of time of day and how much exposure is needed. However, 88% of GPs still asked about sun exposure and advised about the importance of vitamin D. It is thus the detail, not the general understanding, of the importance of sun exposure that seems to be lacking.
Healthcare practitioners in Tabuk region are understanding of and engaged with the problem of vitamin D deficiency in infants in Saudi Arabia. Guidance with regard to the details of correction of this problem may therefore be expected to have significant impact. We would urge dissemination of the recommendations made available recently, in order to ensure best practice for the Saudi population is instituted.
In conclusion, the healthcare practitioners showed positive attitude towards vitamin D supplementation which is a welcoming symptom for the new born’s positive health. The Government should implement new guidelines so that the healthcare practitioners can improve their practice for the well-being of the infants.
All 100 healthcare practitioners invited to participate in the survey completed questionnaires, eliminating the risk of non-response bias.
Study limitations
The major limitation of this study is small sample size. Generalizability to populations other than KSA and the potential issues around generalizability are the other limitations.
The findings of this study can be useful in preparing new guidelines regarding vitamin D supplementation.
Footnotes
Disclosure. Authors have no conflict of interests, and the work was not supported or funded by any drug company.
- Received February 19, 2018.
- Accepted April 26, 2018.
- Copyright: © Saudi Medical Journal
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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