Knowledge, attitude and practices study regarding current COVID-19 pandemic in patients presenting to rheumatology clinic of a Tertiary Care Hospital

Introduction: The most important step in controlling the spread of any communicable disease is to stick to preventive measures and COVID-19 pandemic is no exception. Keeping this in mind, a KAP study was performed in the rheumatology unit of a tertiary care hospital of Islamabad. The main idea was to know the level of understanding of rheumatologic patients with respect to COVID-19 pandemic and its preventive measures. Objective: The objective of the study was to understand the knowledge, attitude and practices of rheumatologic patients towards COVID-19 pandemic. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study in which consecutive, non-probability sampling technique was used. Results: There were 37 males and 73 females in the study group, with mean age of 38.75±13.9 years. The total knowledge score was 17 points. It was found that 12 (10.9%) participants had poor knowledge regarding COVID-19, whereas 27 (24.5%) and 71 (64.5%) had good and excellent knowledge respectively. The total attitude score of study participants 7 points. It was found that 11 (10.0%) participants had poor attitude, whereas 72 (65.5%) and 27 (24.5%) had good and excellent attitude. The total practice score was 11 points. It was calculated that 30 (27.3%) study participants had poor practices regarding COVID-19 prevention, whereas 78 (70.9%) had good practices and only 2 (1.8%) had excellent practices. Conclusion: Overall, it was noted that KAP of our rheumatologic patients towards COVID-19 infection was reasonable, however, there is always room for improvement.