Abstract

Cross-Sectional Study on the Awareness, Perceptions and First Aid Measures of Snakebite among Adult Population in Calicut, South India

Objectives: Snakebite is a major public health problem in India. Recently deaths due to snakebite have been reported in North Kerala due to delay in first aid measures. There are no studies in the literature that show knowledge of the first aid measures of snake bite among the general population of Kerala. This study is to determine the proportion of poor knowledge on the awareness and first aid measures of snakebite and its perceptions, in adults of 18 to 70 years age group visiting tertiary care center in Kozhikode, South India during March 2020.

Methods: The study setting was a tertiary care center, where the majority of patients visiting, belong to rural families. The Cross-sectional study design was used. An interviewer-administered semi-structured questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge of patients visiting the tertiary care center after taking informed consent. The sample size calculated was 156. For Statistical analysis: An odds ratio used for the strength of association between the different factors and poor knowledge. 95% confidence interval for OR, p-value<0.05, and chi-square test were used for the significance of the test.

Results: In our study, 86% of 156 study population had poor knowledge about different domains of first aid measures. Participants with education less than 10th standard were significantly associated with poor knowledge [adjusted OR 2.831 (1.44-7.676), 95% CI].

Conclusions: Even though Kerala is very forward in terms of literacy, dissemination of correct knowledge is necessary to remove their misconception and to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with snakebites.

• Full-Text
• PDF