Evaluation of primary immunodeficiency awareness of physicians in Türkiye

Introduction:
Despite recent advances in diagnosing and treating primary immunodeficiency (PID), delay in diagnosis is still an important health problem.

Aim:
To evaluate the awareness of physicians in Türkiye about PID.

Material and methods:
Internal medicine, infectious diseases, and family physicians were included in the study. The questionnaire included questions about demographic characteristics, PID education, and knowledge. The ‘10 warning signs of PID’ developed by the Jeffrey Modell Foundation (JMF) as warning signs of PID were also scored. The total score was calculated, and an awareness comparison was made between the three physician groups.

Results:
A total of 320 physicians were included in the study. The mean age of the participants was 32 years (IQR: 25–68 years). Approximately one-third of physicians stated that they had never received any training on PID, and only 20% had followed a patient diagnosed with PID. Recurrent opportunistic infections were the most common symptom of PID (77.8%). Only 6.6% of the physicians were familiar with all the warning signs of PID, and no significant difference was found between the physician groups.

Conclusions:
In this study, it was revealed that there is a significant lack of awareness about PID among physicians. Delay in PID diagnosis and treatment is one of the most important reasons for the deterioration of patients’ quality of life. Increasing the awareness of this disease by increasing physicians’ education about PID is an essential step toward early diagnosis and treatment.