Abstract
Background: Necrotizing fasciitis (NF) is an emergency condition which is rare and characterized by the rapid progressive infection of the soft tissue. This condition is mainly occurred at limb however, spine NF is rare and life- threating condition. Adequate knowledge about these rare conditions could be helpful in earlier diagnosis and commencement of management which could reduce the complications of this disease and reduce its mortality rate. Thus, the aim of this study is to assess the level of knowledge of physicians in Saudi Arabia toward necrotizing fasciitis of the spine.
Methodology: This is cross-sectional study that was conducted among physicians of different regions of Saudi Arabia. This study depended on self-reported questionnaire that was distributed online through Google sheets over social platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp. Online means of distribution was used in order to achieve a big sample from different regions of Saudi Arabia. The questionnaire was self-designed according to literature review.
Results: This study was conducted among 161 physicians where 59 % of them were males while 53.4 % of the participants were younger than 35-years-old. In general, 47.2 % of the physicians in this study had adequate knowledge considering NF. Age was a significant factor affecting the level of knowledge among the physicians (P=0.0003) where 62.7 % of the participants older than 35 years old had adequate knowledge compared with 33.7 % of those younger than 35 years old. Specialty of the physicians is another significant factor affecting knowledge of the participants (P=0.0001) where those who were surgeons had the highest level of knowledge. Furthermore, in this study, we found that 34.8 % of the physicians reported seeing a case with NF before with those who reported seeing a case with NF showing higher level of knowledge significantly (P=0.0001).
Conclusion: We found that there is higher percentage of physicians who have inadequate knowledge regarding NF including spinal symptoms, especially among general practitioners. Urgent need to improve the awareness of physicians toward NF and other rare conditions is important in order to improve the early diagnosis of these conditions and starting medical intervention in earlier stages.