1.Global systematic review and meta-analysis of knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards dengue fever among the general population
Abdolreza Sotoodeh Jahromi ; Mohammad Jokar ; Arman Abdous
Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine 2024;17(5):191-207
Objective: To determine the global level of knowledge, attitudes,
and practices towards dengue fever among the general population.
Methods: To complete this systematic review and meta-analysis,
a thorough search for pertinent English-language literature was
undertaken during the study's extension until October 2023. The
search used Google Scholar, Scopus, PubMed/MEDLINE, Science
Direct, Web of Science, EMBASE, Springer, and ProQuest. A
quality assessment checklist developed using a modified Newcastle-
Ottawa Scale for the cross-sectional study was used to evaluate the
risk of bias in the included papers. Inverse variance and Cochran Q
statistics were employed in the STATA software version 14 to assess
study heterogeneity. When there was heterogeneity, the Dersimonian
and Liard random-effects models were used.
Results: 59 Studies totaling 87 353 participants were included in
this meta-analysis. These investigations included 86 278 participants
in 55 studies on knowledge, 20 196 in 33 studies on attitudes, and
74 881 in 29 studies on practices. The pooled estimates for sufficient
knowledge, positive attitudes, and dengue fever preventive behaviors
among the general population were determined as 40.1% (95%
CI 33.8%-46.5%), 46.8% (95% CI 35.8%-58.9%), and 38.3%
(95% CI 28.4%-48.2%), respectively. Europe exhibits the highest
knowledge level at 63.5%, and Africa shows the lowest at 20.3%.
Positive attitudes are most prevalent in the Eastern Mediterranean
(54.1%) and Southeast Asia (53.6%), contrasting sharply with the
Americas, where attitudes are notably lower at 9.05%. Regarding
preventive behaviors, the Americas demonstrate a prevalence of
12.1%, Southeast Asia at 28.1%, Western Pacific at 49.6%, Eastern
Mediterranean at 44.8%, and Africa at 47.4%.
Conclusions: Regional disparities about the knowledge, attitude
and preventive bahaviors are evident with Europe exhibiting the
highest knowledge level while Africa has the lowest. These findings
emphasize the importance of targeted public health interventions
tailored to regional contexts, highlighting the need for regionspecific
strategies to enhance dengue-related knowledge and
encourage positive attitudes and preventive behaviors.