Knowledge, attitude and practice of patients attending primary care centers toward vitamin D in Kuwait

Background: Extracellular calcium is vital for the functioning of many metabolic processes and neuromuscular activities. Awareness and practice of patients with vitamin D deficiency are very important. Objective: To explore knowledge, attitude and practice of patients receiving vitamin D supplement and attending primary health care (PHC) in Kuwait. Subjects and methods: The study design is a simple descriptive cross-sectional one that was carried out in two PHC centers. Two hundred patients were selected randomly from a list of all registered patients in the selected centers. Criteria for inclusion included adult age P18 years, diagnosis with hypovitaminosis D within a year, and under vitamin D supplement. Results: Only 28.5% of participants were aware about their condition, 53.5% related pain to vitamin D deficiency, 33.5% knew the presence of relation between vitamin D deficiency and joint pain. One third of the participants received the loading dose of vitamin D, and, 17.5% had the maintenance dose. Only 21.0% believed that they feel better regarding musculoskeletal symptoms after taking treatment doses and 12.5% of the participants knew that the level of vitamin D dropped again after stopping medication. Only 29.5% knew the relation between vitamin D and other diseases. The majority of patients (85.5%) agreed about the importance of sunshine as a source of vitamin D and 60.0% thought that they can get vitamin D from the nutrients. Regarding the main sources of knowledge about vitamin D, 40.5 % of patients got knowledge from doctors, 12.5% from the media, 29.0% from relatives and friends, 8.5% from background information and 9.5% from journals and magazines. Conclusions: The majority of the study participants had limited knowledge, poor practices, and negative attitude toward vitamin D problems. Planning health education interventions for this group of patients are essential.