ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Pulmonary Medicine
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1646684
Respiratory Allergies and House Dust Mites: Evaluating Public Awareness in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia -A Cross-Sectional Study
Provisionally accepted
Dr Samia Al-Shouli1
Zeyad Kurdee1
Sultan Ayoub Meo1*
Samiah Alhabardi2Abdulaziz Alnasser1Bader Almogbel1Khalid Abdulaziz1Naif Alquwayi1Saad Alhanaya1
Sultan Alshehri1Yazeed Hussein1Mohammed Hussein1- 1College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- 2King Saud University College of Pharmacy, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Objectives: Respiratory allergies are a highly challenging and growing public health problem.The house dust mites (HDM) are common allergens that trigger respiratory allergic reactions.This study aimed to investigate the knowledge and attitudes of the general population in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, regarding HDM-induced respiratory allergy.This cross-sectional study recruited a total of 917 subjects, 481 males (52.5%) and 436 females (47.5%). An online questionnaire was developed and underwent a pilot process to assess its clarity, relevance, and comprehensiveness. The questionnaire had 19 questions divided into three parts (sociodemographic, knowledge, and attitudes). The questionnaire was distributed via social media platforms, including email and WhatsApp.The most common reported allergies were sinusitis (17.1%), asthma (12.4%), rhinitis (11.6%), eczema (6.2%), urticaria (2.5%), rash (1.5%), and conjunctivitis (1.3%). Male participants (mean = 5.11, SD = 2.14) had a significantly lower mean knowledge score than females (mean = 6.03, SD = 1.76), p = 0.001. The participants aged 46-59 (mean = 6.05, SD = 1.81) had the highest knowledge (p = 0.001), participants with a postgraduate degree (mean = 6.04, SD = 1.86) had the highest knowledge, followed by those with a bachelor's degree or diploma, high school graduates, and those with less than a high school education (p = 0.006). A sizable portion, 47.7% (437) of respondents, correlated HDM-induced respiratory allergies with living environments characterized by poor hygiene and crowded residential places.The most commonly reported allergies were sinusitis, asthma, rhinitis, eczema, urticaria, rash, and conjunctivitis. The majority of participants had limited knowledge of HDMinduced allergy; male participants demonstrated significantly lower knowledge compared to females. Participants aged 46-59 years who held a postgraduate degree showed the highest level of knowledge. A sizable portion of the participants correlated HDM-induced respiratory allergies with living environments characterized by poor hygiene and crowded residential places.
Keywords: house dust mites, Awareness, knowledge, Education, Hygiene, Saudi Arabia
Received: 13 Jun 2025; Accepted: 21 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Al-Shouli, Kurdee, Meo, Alhabardi, Alnasser, Almogbel, Abdulaziz, Alquwayi, Alhanaya, Alshehri, Hussein and Hussein. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Sultan Ayoub Meo, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.