The Assessing Knowledge, Awareness, and Attitudes Towards Personalised, Genomic, and Pharmacogenomics Medicine in Health Students at Umm Al-Qura University: A Cross-Sectional Study: Knowledge, Awareness, and Attitudes towards Personalised, Genomic, and Pharmacogenomics Medicine

Salah Bakry; Mohammad   Ujaimi; Talal  Alharthi; Ammar  Alsufyani; Hammam  Alsharif; Sulten  Al-Zahrani; Ahmad  Mufti

doi:10.54293/smhj.v2i1.26

Authors

Salah Bakry Faculty of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, kingdom of Saudi Arabia. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2389-7952
Mohammad Ujaimi Faculty of medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, kingdom of Saudi Arabia. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8865-6367
Talal Alharthi Faculty of medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, kingdom of Saudi Arabia. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9073-3723
Ammar Alsufyani Faculty of medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, kingdom of Saudi Arabia. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3744-9656
Hammam Alsharif Faculty of medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, kingdom of Saudi Arabia. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5132-6786
Sulten Al-Zahrani Faculty of medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, kingdom of Saudi Arabia. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2989-1671
Ahmad Mufti Assistant professor, Medical genetics department, Faculty of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, kingdom of Saudi Arabia. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4272-3306

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54293/smhj.v2i1.26

Keywords:

knowledge, awareness, personalised medicine, genomic medicine, pharmacogenomics, health students, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: personalised medicine is a medical concept that intends to provide individuals with individualized approach preventative and treatment techniques. It is substantially relies on genetic and clinical examination; this aspect of medicine has significantly progressed over the last few decades.

Aims: our study surveyed health students from different health-related colleges in the Makkah region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). We compared student knowledge, awareness and attitudes toward personalised, genomic, and pharmacogenomic medicine to address a knowledge gap in the literature.

Methodology: an online survey-based study was carried out on health students in different health colleges at Umm Al-Qura University between March 2021 and September 2021.

Results: the number of participants in the current study was 370. Their mean age was 21.05± 1.72 years. Altogether, 68.1% of the participants were male, and 31.9% were female. The majority were second-year students, while intern students were the least represented. The College of Medicine had the largest representation of students. The majority of the students were single. Moreover, there was a correlation found between participants’ level of awareness and their gender and college (p, value 0.003, 0.050, respectively). Furthermore, a significant correlation was found regarding students’ interest in undertaking a genetic test (p-value, 0.045).

Conclusion: according to the findings of the current study, health care professionals have limited awareness about personalised, genomic, and pharmacogenomics medicine. Furthermore, participants’ gender, and college were found to have a significant correlation with their level of awareness, compared with the other demographic categories.