Knowledge and attitude towards total knee arthroplasty among the public in Saudi Arabia: a nationwide population-based study.

Purpose: Studies on total knee arthroplasty (TKA) in Saudi Arabia are scarce, and none have reported the knowledge and attitude of the procedure in Saudi Arabia. Our study aims to measure the knowledge and attitude of TKA among the adult Saudi population.

Methods: To encompass a representative sample of this cross-sectional survey, all 13 administrative areas were used as ready-made geographical clusters. For each cluster, stratified random sampling was performed to maximize participation in the study. In each area, random samples of mobile phone numbers were selected with a probability proportional to the administrative area population size. Sample size calculation was based on the assumption that 50% of the participants would have some level of knowledge, with a 2% margin of error and 95% confidence level. To reach our intended sample size of 1540, we contacted 1722 participants with a response rate of 89.4%.

Results: The expected percentage of public knowledge was 50%; however, the actual percentage revealed by this study was much lower (29.7%). A stepwise multiple logistic regression was used to assess the factors that positively affected the knowledge score regarding TKA. Age [P = 0.016 with OR of 0.47], higher income [P = 0.001 with OR of 0.52] and participants with a positive history of TKA or that have known someone who underwent the surgery [P < 0.001 with OR of 0.15] had a positive impact on the total knowledge score.

Conclusions: There are still misconceptions among the public in Saudi Arabia concerning TKA, its indications and results. We recommend that doctors use the results of our survey to assess their conversations with their patients, and to determine whether the results of the procedure are adequately clarified.