Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Premarital Screening Programs Among Students at the University of Tripoli, Libya.

Background: Despite the increase in hereditary disease in Arab countries due to the high rates of consanguineous marriages, research on community awareness of premarital screening (PMS) for disease carriers is still scarce.
Aim: To investigate knowledge and attitudes toward genetic PMS programs among university students in Libya.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire distributed to 421 Libyan students aged 18-25 years at the University of Tripoli.
Results: Most of the participants (79%, n=316) agreed that a PMS program is important and expressed willingness to have PMS programs if they were advised to do so. Two-thirds of participants (67%, n=268) had heard of PMS programs, of whom (27.2%, n=73) heard of them from social media.
Conclusion: Most of the university students had good knowledge of PMS but poor knowledge of the hereditary disease targeted by PMS. Most of them had a positive attitude toward PMS.
Competing Interests: Human subjects: Consent was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. Bioethics Committee of Libyan Biotechnology Research Center issued approval BEC-BRTC 18-2019. Animal subjects: All authors have confirmed that this study did not involve animal subjects or tissue. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.
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