UNCERTAINTY, FEAR OF DENGUE, AND PRACTICE OF PREVENTIVE MEASURES: A COMMUNITY-BASED SURVEY IN LAHORE, PAKISTAN

OBJECTIVE: To assess and correlate fear, uncertainty and practice of precautionary measures in relation to Dengue Fever (DF) in community from Lahore, Pakistan. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Lahore, Pakistan between September to November 2016. Multistage random sampling technique was used to enroll 400 adults from nine different towns. A self-constructed questionnaire was used to assess uncertainty, fear and practice of preventive measures. Data was analyzed using SPSS Version 21. RESULTS: Out of 400 participants, 214 (53.5%) were males and 186 (46.5%) were females, with age ranging between 16-65 years. In correlation analysis, fear had a slightly positive correlation with uncertainty (r=0.02), and preventive practice (r=0.01), whereas uncertainty had a negative correlation with preventive practice (r=-0.22). In demographic components, age had the best correlation with fear (r=012) as compared to others. Men reported to have greater uncertainty, t (1,198=2.11, p