Knowledge of and attitudes toward clinical trials in Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

ObjectivesClinical trials (CTs) are considered an important method for developing new treatments and providing access to potentially effective drugs that are still under investigation. Measuring the public’s knowledge of and attitudes toward CTs is important for assessing their readiness for and acceptance of human drug testing, which has previously not been assessed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The objective of this study is to explore the Saudi public’s knowledge of and attitudes toward CTs as well as participation in trials to test new or approved drugs.DesignCross-sectional.SettingThe 2016 Al Jenadriyah cultural/heritage festival in Riyadh, KSA.ParticipantsParticipating booths and exhibition halls, as well as festival visitors, were approached to participate in the study.Primary and secondary outcome measuresKnowledge of and attitudes toward CTs.ResultsThe final number of participants was 938. The responses were converted to a percentage mean score (out of 100) for each knowledge-related response and attitude. The total mean knowledge score was 56.8±24.8 and the attitude-related score was 61.5±28.0. Although most of the participants supported testing approved or off-label and new drugs on adult and paediatric patients, only a third (30.5%) agreed that new drugs could be tested on healthy volunteers. The results indicated that gender, educational level, income, medical background, age and health insurance were independently associated with the level of knowledge of CTs. In terms of attitudes toward CTs, the factors that were independently associated were gender, educational level and medical background.ConclusionsThe Saudi public has a low level of knowledge and a moderately positive attitude toward CTs. There is a moderate positive correlation between the two factors such that as knowledge of CTs increases, the Saudi public will hold more positive attitudes toward CTs.

Clinical trials: Predictors of knowledge and attitudes towards participation

“…Consistent with other studies, female gender, higher education and previous CT participation were identified as independent factors predicting positive attitude, however, controversial data are also available 18,22‐24 …”

“…Male gender, higher education, being younger and healthy were independently associated with better knowledge. The positive influence of the aforementioned demographics on knowledge has been similarly observed, however some previous studies could not find such association 8,18‐22 …”

“…A better knowledge of CTs seems not to affect the attitudes towards participation. Other studies however demonstrated positive correlations between knowledge and attitude regarding CTs 8,16,18,20,22 …”

“…However, only few were aware about the existence of a legal protection of volunteers. Recent studies conducted worldwide including MENA region, showed different levels of knowledge ranging from low to high in regard to clinical research 8,10,13,15‐18 . Even if most of the respondents have never participated in a CT, the majority, probably driven by common sense, answered correctly questions regarding the essential elements of the informed consent.…”

“…Knowledge and attitudes were classified into "good knowledge/ poor knowledge" and "positive attitude/negative attitude" respectively using 80% as cutoff value: respondents were considered to have "good knowledge" and "positive attitude" if their knowledge and attitude score was equivalent to ≥80% of the respective maximum score. 18 Univariate analyses were conducted using Mann-Whitney U test for continuous variables and Chi-squared test for categorical variables. Binary logistic regressions were performed to determine factors independently associated with the knowledge (good vs poor) and attitude (positive vs negative).…”