Determining the Awareness of general physicians and pediatricians on primary immunodeficiency disease(PID) in the city of Ahvaz (Southwest of Iran)

Primary immunodeficiencies (PID) are a group of heterogeneous disorders of the immune system that result in chronic, serious, and often life-threatening infections if they are not properly diagnosed and treated. Worldwide, from 70 to 90% of PID sufferers remain undiagnosed because of poor awareness.

The aim of this study was to assess the awareness of general physicians of and pediatricians about primary immunodeficiency disease in the city of Ahvaz.

An 80-item questionnaire in 5 sections on clinical symptoms, associated diseases, and syndromes, family history, laboratory investigations, and management of PIDs patients was designed valid and reliable by a pilot study.

A total of 257 physicians (200 general practitioners and 57 pediatricians) participated in the study. The mean age of participants was 30.35±8.54 years (range 25-59) including 61.48% female and 38.52% of male. The mean overall knowledge score was 58.91±5.47% (49.31 to 90.41%) among pediatricians and 65.22±10.68% (45.20 to 75.34%) in general practitioners. There was a significant difference in the percentages of correct answers between pediatricians and general practitioners (p < 0.0001). Moreover, 45.6% of pediatricians and 9.5% of general practitioners answered correctly more than 2/3 of questions (67% of questions).

The results of this study revealed that the physicians need to have a much greater awareness about PID in Ahvaz city of Iran. A more comprehensive pre/postgraduate education in PID appears to be necessary for physicians in Ahvaz.