Fax +41 61 306 12 34 E-Mail karger@karger.ch www.karger.com Original Paper Med Princ Pract 2010;19:312–318 DOI: 10.1159/000312719 A Survey of Knowledge of Sexually Transmitted Infections among Patients at a Public Hospital in Pulau Pinang, Malaysia Mudassir Anwar a Syed A. Syed Sulaiman b Tahir M. Khan b, c a School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, International Medical University, Kuala Lumpur, b School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, and c School of Pharmacy, Island College of Technology, Balik Pulau, Malaysia treatment of STIs was inadequate. The knowledge level was significantly related to gender (p = 0.03), religion (p = 0.005), educational level (p = 0.000), marital status (p = 0.000) and income level (p = 0.036). Conclusion: This study demonstrat- ed evidence of poor knowledge of STIs amongst the patients attending an STI service in the General Hospital of Pulau Pinang (Malaysia). Hence there is an immediate need for ef- forts towards improving patient knowledge of STIs. Copyright © 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel Introduction Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have long been recognised as a major public health dilemma because of their high incidence and contribution to morbidity and mortality [1]. Though many STIs are easy to treat, delay in seeking appropriate care can result in increased sever- ity and complications [2]. Historically, knowledge about STIs has been very low even in communities where there is high prevalence of STIs. In some cases, STIs may be viewed as unavoidable or may even be viewed as an ‘ini- tiation into adulthood’ [3]. There may be lack of concern about STIs because they may be viewed as easily curable [3]. Knowledge is an important prevention factor for STIs [4] . It has been suggested that knowledge about STI trans- Key Words Knowledge  Sexually transmitted infections  Patients Abstract Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the patients’ knowledge and awareness of sexually transmitted infec- tions (STIs). Subjects and Methods: A face-to-face interview was conducted among the patients visiting the Venereal Diseases Outpatient Department of the General Hospital of Pulau Pinang (Malaysia). A 19-item questionnaire was used. A total of 116 patients participated in the study and 107 pa- tients had valid responses. The reliability and internal con- sistency of the questionnaire tool was estimated on the basis of Cronbach’s alpha (= 0.81). The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 13.0 ) was used for data analysis. Student’s t test and analysis of variance were used to analyse the knowl- edge differences among the groups. Results: Of the 107 pa- tients, 82 (76.6%) were diagnosed with syphilis; AIDS was the most commonly known STI among the patients. Of the 107 patients, 35 were sexually active and of these 23 (65.7%) had more than 1 sexual partner. The most popular source of knowledge was newspapers (51 patients, 47.7%), with hospi- tals (3 patients, 2.8%) being the least popular one. Overall mean score on knowledge questions was 12.21 out of the maximum of 33 points. Knowledge about causative organ- isms, risk groups, transmission, symptoms, prevention and Received: February 5, 2009 Revised: May 14, 2009 Tahir Mehmood Khan School of Pharmacy, Island College of Technology, Sungai Rusa 11000 Balik Pulau, Pulau Pinang (Malaysia) Tel. +60 4 46035, Fax +60 4 8665898 E-Mail tahirmehmood @ kict.edu.my © 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel 1011–7571/10/0194–0312$26.00/0 Accessible online at: www.karger.com/mpp Downloaded from http://karger.com/mpp/article-pdf/19/4/312/3121268/000312719.pdf by guest on 18 February 2024