Etiologies of Lumbar Puncture Refusal in Pediatric Patients in Children’s Hospital, Taif City, Saudi Arabia. A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Lumbar Puncture (LP) is a medical emergency operation in which a needle is inserted into the lower back’s spinal canal for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Even though LP has a high diagnostic and therapeutic value, many parents refuse to have their children tested. Objectives: to assess the misunderstanding regarding LP among parents in Taif city. Methods: A cross sectional study was done on 687 parents of children who required LP procedure from birth till the age of 18 in Taif Children Hospital from January 2020 to May 2020. Data about participants demographics, ever been asked to take a sample of the cerebrospinal fluid (LP) of the child, circumstances related to this event were collected. For those who were not asked a question of “if it was needed to take a sample of the cerebrospinal fluid of one of your children, will you agree? was added. Results: 15.7% of parents were asked to take a sample of the cerebrospinal fluid of one of their children, of whom, 61.2% agreed, with the average age of the child at the LP being 2.24 ± 3.28 years. A consultant discussed the LP technique to 37.8% of them, and 86.5% and 56.2% said the doctor clarified the nature and complications of the treatment to them. For parents not asked for LP before, 41.4% will not agree to it in the future. For parents who refused LP when indicated and those refusing it in the future, the most common causes were the side effects such as paralysis (60.6%), pain (11.3%) and no trust in HCWs and fear of medical errors (10.9%). For them, the most common sources of refusal were information from friends and relatives (41.2%). Conclusion: There is a need for health education of parents about the importance and nature of LP to overcome barriers that lead to LP refusal. Key words: etiologies, LP, refusal, pediatric, Taif, Saudi.