Public Knowledge and Attitude towards Vitiligo: A Cross-Sectional Survey in Jordan

Abstract

Background: Vitiligo is an autoimmune disease affecting approximately 2% of the world’s population. Besides vitiligo cosmetic issues, patients suffer from psychological comorbidities. This results from the stigmatization they encounter from surrounding individuals. Accordingly, the current study was the first to assess Jordanians’ knowledge and attitude toward vitiligo. Methods: Data collection was completed by an online questionnaire consisting of four sections to capture participants’ sociodemographic characteristics, previous exposure, and knowledge and attitude toward vitiligo. The analysis took place through R and RStudio. Results: Of our 994 surveyed participants, only 8.45% and 12.47% had a low level of vitiligo knowledge and negative total attitude score, respectively. Moreover, independent predictors of positive attitudes included younger age (18–30), high school education or lower, hearing about or living with a vitiligo patient, and higher knowledge scores. The highest prevalence of positive attitudes was observed when physicians were the source of knowledge. Conclusion: Some critical misconceptions were identified despite the Jordanian public having sufficient overall knowledge. Furthermore, higher knowledge reflected a higher prevalence of positive attitudes toward the patients. We recommend that future efforts target the public understanding of the nature of the disease and its being non-communicable. Moreover, we emphasize that medical knowledge should be communicated through qualified healthcare providers.