PMID- 35572979 OWN - NLM STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE LR - 20220716 IS - 2296-858X (Print) IS - 2296-858X (Electronic) IS - 2296-858X (Linking) VI - 9 DP - 2022 TI - Assessment of Knowledge Regarding Safety Profile, Use, and Boxed Warnings of Fluoroquinolones Among Healthcare Professionals in Saudi Arabia: A Potential Implication for Drug Regulatory Authorities. PG - 816320 LID - 10.3389/fmed.2022.816320 [doi] LID - 816320 AB - BACKGROUND: Despite a series of "boxed warnings" (BWs) issued by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), fluoroquinolones (FQs) are among the most prescribed antibiotics across the world. Moreover, few studies demonstrated that BW of FQs had less or no impact on prescribing patterns among healthcare professionals (HCPs), which might be attributed to the lack of knowledge toward such warnings. Since FQs contribute to a major proportion of antimicrobial prescriptions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), this study aimed to ascertain the extent of knowledge toward safety profile, use, and BW of FQs among HCPs working in the KSA. METHODS: This cross-sectional study (May-August 2021) was conducted among HCPs working in KSA through a validated questionnaire. The HCPs were requested to identify the indications, adverse effects (AEs), and BW of FQs. The knowledge score (out of 40) was estimated among participants, and its association with demographics was ascertained through the chi-square test, Student's t-test, or Mann-Whitney U-test and one-way ANOVA, or Kruskal-Wallis test, where appropriate. RESULTS: Of the 573 participants (age: 36.1 +/- 10.6 years, men: 59.7%), 262 (45.8%) were prescribers reporting frequent use of ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, and ofloxacin. One-fourth (25.6%) of the prescribers did not recognize nalidixic acid as an agent from FQs class. About 60% of participants correctly identified the mechanism of action of FQs. The average knowledge score was 14.8 +/- 6.4, where only 21.5% of respondents scored >/=50%. The average knowledge score for indications, AEs, and BW domains was 5.29 +/- 3.05, 6.17 +/- 4.05, and 2.3 +/- 1.5, respectively. Only 75 (13.1%) participants recognized half of the BW, and 38.6% of participants identified at least one warning. The HCPs aged >40 years (p = 0.043), having non-Saudi's nationality (p < 0.001), working in Riyadh and Eastern regions (p < 0.001), having pharmacy and medicine disciplines (p < 0.001), practicing in public sectors (p = 0.004), and having more than 10 years of experience (p < 0.001) were significantly associated with high knowledge score. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates the unsatisfactory knowledge toward safety profile, use, and BW of FQs among HCPs which may put patients at increased risks of AEs. The knowledge score differed among various socio-demographic groups. There is a dire need to initiate the antimicrobial-focused educational campaigns among HCPs regardless of their specialties and methods to improve education and disseminate FDA warnings in practice. CI - Copyright (c) 2022 Mallhi, Alanazi, Khan, Alotaibi, Salman, Alzarea, Khan, Alruwaili, Alenazi, Alatawi, Iqbal, Butt and Iqbal. FAU - Mallhi, Tauqeer Hussain AU - Mallhi TH AD - Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Jouf University, Sakaka, Saudi Arabia. FAU - Alanazi, Abdullah Salah AU - Alanazi AS AD - Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Jouf University, Sakaka, Saudi Arabia. AD - Health Sciences Research Unit, Jouf University, Sakaka, Saudi Arabia. FAU - Khan, Yusra Habib AU - Khan YH AD - Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Jouf University, Sakaka, Saudi Arabia. FAU - Alotaibi, Nasser Hadal AU - Alotaibi NH AD - Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Jouf University, Sakaka, Saudi Arabia. FAU - Salman, Muhammad AU - Salman M AD - Faculty of Pharmacy, The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan. FAU - Alzarea, Abdulaziz Ibrahim AU - Alzarea AI AD - Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Jouf University, Sakaka, Saudi Arabia. FAU - Khan, Salah-Ud-Din AU - Khan SU AD - Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. FAU - Alruwaili, Nabil K AU - Alruwaili NK AD - Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy, Jouf University, Sakaka, Saudi Arabia. FAU - Alenazi, Alaa Salah AU - Alenazi AS AD - Riyadh Second Health Cluster, Ministry of Health, Rayyad, Saudi Arabia. FAU - Alatawi, Ahmed D AU - Alatawi AD AD - Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Jouf University, Sakaka, Saudi Arabia. FAU - Iqbal, Zafar AU - Iqbal Z AD - Department of Pharmaceutical Services, Armed Forces Hospital, King Abdulaziz Airbase, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. FAU - Butt, Muhammad Hammad AU - Butt MH AD - Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Central Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. FAU - Iqbal, Muhammad Shahid AU - Iqbal MS AD - Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia. LA - eng PT - Journal Article DEP - 20220429 PL - Switzerland TA - Front Med (Lausanne) JT - Frontiers in medicine JID - 101648047 PMC - PMC9099140 OTO - NOTNLM OT - United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) OT - adverse effects OT - anti-infective agents OT - antibiotic stewardship OT - antibiotics OT - boxed warnings OT - fluoroquinolones OT - safety COIS- The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. EDAT- 2022/05/17 06:00 MHDA- 2022/05/17 06:01 PMCR- 2022/04/29 CRDT- 2022/05/16 04:20 PHST- 2021/11/16 00:00 [received] PHST- 2022/03/07 00:00 [accepted] PHST- 2022/05/16 04:20 [entrez] PHST- 2022/05/17 06:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2022/05/17 06:01 [medline] PHST- 2022/04/29 00:00 [pmc-release] AID - 10.3389/fmed.2022.816320 [doi] PST - epublish SO - Front Med (Lausanne). 2022 Apr 29;9:816320. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2022.816320. eCollection 2022.