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Bader A Al-Mehmadi,1 May Musaad M Alelaiwi,2 Haya Sulaiman A Alnumayr,3 Basil Saeed Alghamdi,4 Bandar Abdullah Alomari,4 Hayat Saleh Alzahrani5 1Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Majmaah University, Al-Majmaah, 11952, Saudi Arabia; 2College of Medicine, Majmaah University, Al-Majmaah, Saudi Arabia; 3College of Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah, Saudi Arabia; 4Department of Internal Medicine, King Fahad Hospital, Medina, Saudi Arabia; 5Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Hayat Saleh Alzahrani, Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, P.O. Box 84428, Riyadh, 11671, Saudi Arabia, Tel +96611822000, Email Hsaalzahrani@pnu.edu.sa; hayatsalzahrani@gmail.comPurpose: The aim of this study is to determine the general population’s knowledge on the different symptoms of rheumatic diseases, the key factors for diagnosis delays from the patient’s perspective, the length of delay from the onset of symptoms to the diagnosis, and the effect this holds on the disease activity, response to therapy, and the development of complications and nonreversible deformities in patients diagnosed with rheumatic diseases.Patients and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. Our target study population were the residents of Saudi Arabia. Data were collected via an online questionnaire and analyzed with SPSS.Results: The overall prevalence of rheumatic disease in our cohort was 8.7%. Joint pain (75.7%), joint swelling (47.1%) and morning stiffness (32.9%) were the first and most common presenting symptom. Persistence of symptoms (N=32, 45.7%) and symptom worsening (N=21, 30.0%) was the predominant cause to visit rheumatologist. The duration between first symptom and rheumatic disease diagnosis is significantly longer for patients aged < 50 years compared to that of those with ≥ 50 years of age. Results show that 36.4% of patients aged ≥ 50 years had delayed diagnosis due to late appointment compared with 5.7% of patients aged < 50 years. In addition, patients with longer duration of symptoms were likely to have more visits to the rheumatologist. Most of the participants of < 50 years significantly agreed that rheumatologists treat autoimmune diseases, only a few approved that they treat muscle problems.Conclusion: Most participants in our study have lesser knowledge about their symptoms and they did not know where to consult for the treatment of their disease. This caused unnecessary delays and worsening and aggravation of the symptoms. There is an increased need to organize an awareness campaign in the general population regarding autoimmune and rheumatic diseases.Keywords: rheumatic diseases, delayed diagnosis, misdiagnosis, referrals, consultations, Saudi Arabia

Background: Antimicrobial resistance is increasing at an alarming rate. The use of antibiotics without a prescription by a patient or other family members and their inappropriate storage have caused serious health issues as it would lead to antibiotic resistance and exposure to the risk of harmful adverse effects unnecessarily. Therefore, the study aimed to evaluate the current behaviour of antibiotic usage, storage, re-usage and misuse among the residents of Saudi Arabia., Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. Our target study population was the residents of Saudi Arabia. Data were collected by an online questionnaire and analysed by SPSS., Results: A total of 738 participants answered the online questionnaire from all ages, genders, nationalities, and socioeconomic backgrounds residing in different regions across the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 76.42% knew that an antibiotic is a chemical substance used to treat infections. The participants were questioned about when they started using antibiotics, to which 95.66% (n=706) responded after consulting a physician, 3.25% (n=24) said when they felt ill for any reason, and 1.08% (n=8) replied after first attempting herbal medicine. A total of 147 participants admitted that they store excess pills of antibiotics after being prescribed for an infection and reuse them later on for symptoms like sore throat and fever., Conclusions: The results indicated that nearly half of the participants used leftover antibiotics. Participants having children in their homes significantly reuse antibiotics. However, one-third of the participants didn't complete the antibiotics course. A large portion of the population, regardless of age, level of education, or professional background, have continued to store leftover antibiotics after an infection treatment and reuse them once they think they need them for new symptoms. This advice further revises the current measures to fill those gaps and reduce this habit., Competing Interests: No competing interests were disclosed., (Copyright: © 2024 Al-Mehmadi B et al.)