Sadia Muhammad Azam Khan, Bilal Sethi, Nadeem Malik, Ishtiaq Anwar.
Awareness regarding protective measures against side effects following long term corticosteroid therapy.
Pak J Surg Jan ;35(1):44-8.

Objective: To assess awareness (knowledge, attitude and practices) regarding protective measures for adverse events following long term use of corticosteroids Study design: Cross sectional Study duration and settings: Study was conducted at department of Medicine, Federal Government Service Hospital, Islamabad. Study duration was 6 months ( January 2018 to June 2018) Material and methods: A sample size of 150 patients was calculated using WHO calculator. Non probability consecutive sampling was used. Ethical approval and consent forms were taken patients were assessed for awareness through asking structured questions on knowledge, attitude and practices regarding protective measures. Data was analyzed with SPSS version 23. Chi-square test was applied p value < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Total 150 patients were included in study. Mean age of patients was 39 years±16.2 SD. There were 80 (53%) male and 70(47%) female. Awareness was reported in 28(19%) patients while 122(81%) were not aware of protective measures. Awareness is significantly associated with occupation, attitude and practices (p<0.05) while insignificantly associated with age, gender and knowledge (p>0.05). Conclusion: Significantly lower awareness regarding protective measures against adverse events of long term corticosteroid usage was found. However, awareness can be improved through conduction of workshops/conferences related to corticosteroid use, adverse event and prevention of complications.

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