A Study Based on Perception towards the Radiation Exposure to Adult Patients at King Abdul-Aziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Background: Radiologic diagnostic procedures using ionizing radiation carry potential health risks to the patients. So, patient’s knowledge about ionizing radiation would play a key role in reducing unnecessary imaging and its impacts.

Aims: To investigate patient’s perception of ionizing radiation and its associated risks towards the radiation exposure to the adult patient.

Materials and Methods: We included 204 adult patients (175 males and 29 females; age range 18- 51 or above and suitably structured questionnaire was used. A cross-sectional survey was conducted, using a suitably structured questionnaire consisting of 16 questions divided into multiple parts. Descriptive statistics were used to explain the demographic characteristics and information regarding radiation knowledge of the respondents. This study was conducted at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in the Radiology Department between October and January 2017.

Results: A total of 204 patients responded to this study. It is clarified that there were (85.8.3%) male and (55.4%) female, their age's ranges between 18 to 51 years and above, and educational level ranges from less than higher secondary to Ph.D. level Furthermore, we found that the number of the respondents was agreed with questions. It was a surprising result that the majority of respondents did not know about the imaging modalities that do not use ionizing radiation. In addition, the large numbers of undecided and disagree responses (41.7% and 33.3%) for the exposure to radiation when you are during travel by airplane along with 59 respondents were given "No" answer for the source of their information and they did ask their physician about radiation risks prior to X-ray examinations.

Conclusion: It is clear from the study that most of the patients have a good knowledge and recognized a correlation between ionizing radiation and its associated risks. In the conclusion, similar studies with a large sample size may be required to order to get enough empirical data about the radiation knowledge of the patients