Knowledge and Perception of Health Care Providers About Probiotics in Saudi Arabia

An online semistructured survey assessing probiotics knowledge and perception of health care providers in Saudi Arabia was conducted in Riyadh city between March and December 2020. A total of 333 participants were randomly sampled from King Khaled University Hospital and the Saudi Health Commission database. The mean, standard deviation, frequency, and percentages were used to present the demographic features of the participating professionals. Analysis of variance and Tukey multiple comparison tests were used to evaluate probiotic knowledge considering the demography of more than two subcategories. From the initial group, 95.7% of health professionals participated in this study. The group was made up of 52.3% female, aged 30–44 (62.8%), mostly nurses (46.8%). A total of 85.3% of participants were familiar with the term “probiotic” and 64% considered probiotics safe for general health; beneficial to gut health and irritable bowel syndrome (42.6% and 32.4%, respectively). However, only 25.5% and 24.6% of participants thought probiotics could moderately benefit ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, respectively. A great majority of participants have no concerns about probiotics use (77.5%), and only minor concerns about safety (22.5%). This research concluded that health professionals were better aware of probiotic knowledge despite their limited understanding of the probiotics used for inflammatory bowel disease. In Saudi Arabia, building new guidelines for probiotics, their types, and their uses in the health sector is needed.