RESUMO
CONTEXT: Dietary supplements is a growing industry, pharmaceuticals are having several types of similar supplements and multivitamins as over-the-counter products, a complete diet is necessary for a healthy body which leads to the usage of supplements or multivitamins complementing diets as needed, therefore leading to its encouraged usage among the population worldwide. AIMS: The study was aimed to determine the public's knowledge and their use of dietary supplements. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: A cross-sectional study was conducted among the general public of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. METHODS AND MATERIALS: The sample consisted of 679 participants including 41% males and 59% females. The ethnicity of the participants is 100% Arabs. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: SPSS. RESULTS: The sociodemographic data showed there were more female participants than males (59.1% vs. 40.9%), most of our participants had at least bachelor degree (64.4%), most of our participants had normal BMI (62.3%). 88.5% had knowledge on supplements and only 11.5% stated they were not aware at all. CONCLUSIONS: Dietary supplements and multivitamins consumption is prevalent among Saudi Arabian population. Our study suggests the majority of consumers understand the supportive role of dietary supplements and are aware of risks and side effects.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: blood products is an interesting term as all blood and blood transfusion procedures carry risk even with advance screening of donors and donated blood. In Saudi Arabia voluntary donors are either the only source or not, the other source is paid donors and the lack of volunteers represents a major challenge. This is usually attributed to low community awareness regarding voluntary blood donation. Therefore, the objective of this study was to assess the levels of awareness towards blood donation in northern Saudi Arabia. METHODOLOGY: in this descriptive cross sectional survey, data about blood donation were obtained from 717 Saudi volunteers living in the city of Hail, Saudi Arabia. A Purposeful questionnaire was designed and used for obtaining of the necessary data. RESULTS: When asking the participants to rate the level of awareness about blood donation in Saudi Society, the majority of participants categorized the levels as good followed by very good and poor, representing 48.8%, 29.3%, and 22% participants, respectively. CONCLUSION: the broad concept of blood donation is still poor in Saudi Arabia. Further educational plans are needed to raise the level of awareness and increase the perception of blood donation among Saudi population. Efforts should be made to involve females in blood donation duties.
