Abstract
Background: The level of awareness and attitudes of primary care physicians toward diagnosing myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) is widely unexplored and many physicians overlook the symptoms of MPNs. Identifying MPN related symptoms by the primary care physician can lead to early recognition of the disease and prevent MPN related complications. Methods: In this cross-sectional study data was collected via a survey questionnaire from 99 primary care physicians (family medicine, internal medicine, emergency medicine) within the Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs (MNGHA) facilities in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The aim is to assess the primary care physicians' awareness of MPN related symptoms. Results: There is a statistically significant difference in the level of awareness of MPN symptoms between physicians in each department. Emergency physicians scored the lowest mean score (3.21+0.22) and failed to identify most of the MPN-related symptoms whereas most Internal Medicine physicians (3.46+0.34) and Family Medicine physicians (3.45 +0.34) were able to identify most of the symptoms. Conclusion: Many physicians failed to recognize disease specific symptoms but were able to identify "B" symptoms. A great proportion of physician failed to recognize splenomegaly related symptoms which are associated with poor disease outcome. Therefore, we emphasize the importance of educating primary care physicians of the presentation of these disorders which can prevent unnecessary hospital costs and achieve better patient outcomes.