Impact of Sociodemographic Factors on Knowledge Perception and Preventive Measure Awareness regarding Dengue Fever.

Background: Although Dengue fever is affecting various tropical and sub-tropical regions but it is common disease in Pakistan at time of floods. It can be easily managed with appropriate knowledge of disease and preventive measures only. Objective: To estimate knowledge perception and prevention awareness of individuals with respect to sociodemographic characteristics towards Dengue fever. Study type, settings & duration: This cross-sectional study was conducted at Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University, Islamabad from February to April 2023. Methodology: Close-Ended structured questionnaire with non-probability convenience sampling was used, where 384 participants belonged to age groups between 15-60 years. Total 25 questions were employed to calculate disease knowledge whereas 11 Questions to investigate prevention awareness. Chi-Square Test was used to evaluate categorical values and their association was estimated with p-value <0.05. Results: It was observed that 44% of the participants had good disease knowledge and prevention awareness (45.05%) among young participants belonging to 15-30 years. Moderate disease knowledge (31.51%) and prevention awareness (33.59%) was observed among participants belonging to 31-40 years of age, while poor disease knowledge (23.43%) and prevention awareness (23.43%) was demonstrated among participants belonging to 41-60 years of age (p-value =0.001). Conclusion: Overall Dengue disease knowledge and prevention awareness among young participants (15-30Years) was better as compared to middle age and elderly participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]