{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,5]],"date-time":"2026-05-05T12:31:59Z","timestamp":1777984319607,"version":"3.51.4"},"update-to":[{"DOI":"10.12688\/f1000research.163687.1","type":"new_version","label":"New version","source":"publisher","updated":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,24]],"date-time":"2026-01-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1769212800000}}],"reference-count":21,"publisher":"F1000 Research Ltd","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,24]],"date-time":"2026-01-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1769212800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["f1000research.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["F1000Res"],"abstract":"<ns7:p>Background Precision medicine is an emerging approach that tailors treatments based on an individual\u2019s genetic profile. The UAE has made significant strides in this field through initiatives like the National Genomics Strategy and the Emirati Genome Program. However, public awareness and engagement remain key challenges. Purpose This study assesses awareness, acceptance, and utilization of precision medicine among UAE residents. Methods A cross-sectional online survey was conducted using a snowball sampling method. The survey collected demographic data, health status, knowledge, and experiences with precision medicine. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were used to analyze associations. Results Most participants (94.3%) were under 50 years old, 62.5% were female, and 60.0% held a bachelor\u2019s degree. Awareness of precision medicine was moderate (55.3%), with higher familiarity among females and students. While 40% believed its main benefit was optimizing drug effectiveness, 38.5% viewed it as crucial for preventing adverse drug reactions. Family and friends (29.5%) were the primary sources of information, yet 25.5% had never heard of precision medicine. Awareness of insurance coverage was low, with 59.0% uncertain about their policy. Genetic testing participation was associated with education level (p &lt; 0.05). Acceptance of precision medicine was higher among individuals with chronic illnesses (p = 0.004). Familiarity scores varied significantly by occupation (p &lt; 0.001) and income (p = 0.004), with higher-income individuals showing greater awareness. Males had a broader range of practice scores (p = 0.003), and individuals with chronic conditions were more aware of precision medicine (p = 0.023). Conclusion Despite advancements, public engagement with precision medicine remains limited. Targeted educational initiatives, improved accessibility, and increased awareness of insurance coverage may enhance adoption and utilization.<\/ns7:p>","DOI":"10.12688\/f1000research.163687.2","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,24]],"date-time":"2026-01-24T11:59:07Z","timestamp":1769255947000},"page":"632","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.12688\/f1000research.crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Personalized Care in the UAE : A Study on Precision Medicine Awareness and Accessibility among the general population"],"prefix":"10.12688","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9878-7443","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jisha","family":"Myalil Lucca","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Alhammadi","family":"Salama","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Basant","family":"Abdalla","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jeswin","family":"Baby","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"2560","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"747","DOI":"10.3390\/genes11070747","article-title":"Precision and personalized medicine: how genomic approach improves the management of cardiovascular and neurodegenerative disease.","volume":"11","author":"O Strianese","year":"2020 Jul 6","journal-title":"Genes (Basel)."},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"418","DOI":"10.3390\/jpm14040418","article-title":"Precision medicine\u2014are we there yet? A narrative review of precision medicine\u2019s applicability in primary care.","volume":"14","author":"W Evans","year":"2024","journal-title":"J. Pers. Med."},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"258-265","DOI":"10.1016\/j.mjafi.2021.06.020","article-title":"Precision medicine: uses and challenges.","volume":"77","author":"N Naithani","year":"2021 Jul","journal-title":"Med. J. Armed Forces India."},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"86-93","DOI":"10.1111\/cts.12884","article-title":"Precision medicine, AI, and the future of personalized health care.","volume":"14","author":"K Johnson","year":"2021","journal-title":"Clin. Transl. 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Pharm [Internet]."},{"key":"ref13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"191","DOI":"10.3390\/jpm10040191","article-title":"Knowledge and Attitudes of Medical and Health Science Students in the United Arab Emirates toward Genomic Medicine and Pharmacogenomics: A Cross-Sectional Study.","volume":"10","author":"A Rahma","year":"2020 Oct 24","journal-title":"J. Pers. Med."},{"key":"ref14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3390\/jpm10040216","article-title":"Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perceived Barriers toward Genetic Testing and Pharmacogenomics among Healthcare Workers in the United Arab Emirates: A Cross-Sectional Study.","volume":"10","author":"A Rahma","year":"2020 Nov 9","journal-title":"J. Pers. 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Health."},{"key":"ref21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"601","DOI":"10.1186\/s12877-022-03279-7","article-title":"Prevalence and factors associated with polypharmacy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.","volume":"22","author":"M Delara","year":"2022","journal-title":"BMC Geriatr."},{"key":"ref17","article-title":"United Arab Emirates (UAE) population statistics 2024."},{"key":"ref18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e007405","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjgh-2021-007405","article-title":"Gender-related data missingness, imbalance and bias in global health surveys.","volume":"6","author":"A Weber","year":"2021","journal-title":"BMJ Glob. Health."},{"key":"ref19","first-page":"21","article-title":"Does gender influence online survey participation? A record-linkage analysis of university faculty online survey response behavior.","author":"W Smith","year":"2008 Jun cited 2025 Apr 9"},{"key":"ref22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"663","DOI":"10.3390\/healthcare11050663","article-title":"The usage and trustworthiness of various health information sources in the United Arab Emirates: an online national cross-sectional survey.","volume":"11","author":"M Almaazmi","year":"2023 Feb 24","journal-title":"Healthcare (Basel)."},{"key":"ref23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1025","DOI":"10.3390\/jpm12071025","article-title":"Stakeholders\u2019 perceptions of barriers to precision medicine adoption in the United States.","volume":"12","author":"M Schroll","year":"2022 Jun 22","journal-title":"J. Pers. Med."},{"key":"ref24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7910\/DVN\/MNLFUY","article-title":"Public awareness on precision medicine.","volume":"V2","author":"J Lucca","year":"2025","journal-title":"Harvard Dataverse."}],"container-title":["F1000Research"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/14-632\/v2\/xml","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/14-632\/v2\/pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/14-632\/v2\/iparadigms","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,24]],"date-time":"2026-02-24T03:39:21Z","timestamp":1771904361000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/14-632\/v2"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,24]]},"references-count":21,"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.12688\/f1000research.163687.2","relation":{"has-version":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.12688\/f1000research.163687.1","asserted-by":"subject"}],"has-review":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.5256\/f1000research.191800.r452917","asserted-by":"subject"},{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.5256\/f1000research.191800.r452919","asserted-by":"subject"},{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.5256\/f1000research.191800.r452919","asserted-by":"object"},{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.5256\/f1000research.191800.r452917","asserted-by":"object"}]},"ISSN":["2046-1402"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2046-1402","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,24]]},"assertion":[{"value":"Indexed","URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/14-632\/v2#article-reports","order":0,"name":"referee-status","label":"Referee status","group":{"name":"current-referee-status","label":"Current Referee Status"}},{"value":"10.5256\/f1000research.191800.r452917, Mohamed Zahir Alimohamed, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, 24 Feb 2026, version 2, indexed","URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/14-632\/v2#referee-response-452917","order":0,"name":"referee-response-452917","label":"Referee Report","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"10.5256\/f1000research.180079.r414418, Chibuzor F. Ogamba, University of Oxford, Oxford, 29 Sep 2025, version 1, 2 approved with reservations, 1 not approved","URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/14-632\/v1#referee-response-414418","order":1,"name":"referee-response-414418","label":"Referee Report","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"<b>Jisha Myalil Lucca<\/b>; \n<i>Posted: 19 Nov 2025<\/i>; We sincerely thank the reviewer for the constructive feedback Methods reporting is incomplete and hampers replicability: - Define all constructs (e.g., familiarity, knowledge, acceptance, perceived benefits, preferences for pharmacogenetic testing) and how each score is computed.&nbsp; \n<i><b>Response: <\/b>We have now clearly defined all key constructs in the Methods section.<\/i>  Move any construct definitions currently in Results into Methods. \n<i><b>Response: <\/b><\/i>&nbsp;Done &nbsp; The statement \u201cGender differences approached statistical significance (p = 0.056) \u2026 suggesting a potential trend\u201d overstates evidence and is misleading at \u03b1=0.05. Moreover, the reported medians are identical (female 8; male 8), contradicting \u201cslightly higher median.\u201d \n<i><b>Response: <\/b>We acknowledge the reviewer\u2019s comment and have revised the manuscript accordingly.<\/i>  \u2018familiarity\u2019 vs \u2018knowledge\u2019 appear to be used interchangeably. Please state whether they are distinct constructs (different items\/scales) or synonyms. If distinct, report separate definitions, scoring, and reliability. \n<i><b>Response: <\/b>In our study, \u201cfamiliarity\u201d and \u201cknowledge\u201d are used as synonyms<\/i>  Phrases such as \u201cmedian around 5\u201d are not informative without the scale range and anchors. Always report the possible range so readers can interpret the neutrality or magnitude accurately. \n<i><b>Response: <\/b>The single instance in which the median was previously described as \u201caround 5\u201d has now been revised to include the full scale range and context. All other medians in the manuscript are already reported with interquartile ranges, ensuring clarity and interpretability, and therefore no additional modifications are required.<\/i>  - If baseline awareness\/engagement with precision medicine is limited, respondents may not fully understand insurance-coverage items. Discuss construct validity and potential measurement error in the Limitations.&nbsp; \n<i><b>Response: <\/b>Updated the limitation<\/i>&nbsp;  Regarding the questionnaire, the authors do not cite what sources the existing questionnaire was adapted from.&nbsp; \n<i><b>Response: <\/b>The questionnaire was adapted from previously published studies on public awareness and perceptions of precision medicine which has now been explicitly cited in the Methods section.<\/i>  -\u201cPanel of five experts\u201d includes two pharmacy students; that\u2019s not an expert panel. \n<i><b>Response: <\/b>Regarding the expert panel, we acknowledge that including pharmacy students does not fully meet the traditional definition of \u201cexperts\u201d; however, as they are master\u2019s-level students, they were considered semi-experts, and this clarification has been updated in the Methods section.<\/i>  -&nbsp;\u201cGiven for a common man\u201d is informal, non-inclusive wording, and describes neither the methods nor the sample&nbsp; nor what feedback was gathered \n<i><b>Response: <\/b>The questionnaire was tested with individuals from the general public, specifically one investigator family member &nbsp;to assess clarity, comprehensibility, and ease of completion. Participants were asked whether any items were difficult to understand or ambiguous.<\/i>  Limitations section is currently missing: \n<i><b>Response: <\/b>Added<\/i>  &nbsp;In Figure 3, clarify in the Methods and the figure caption whether multiple selections were allowed. If yes, state \u201cmultiple responses permitted; percentages may sum to &gt;100%,\u201d and avoid phrasing like \u201cFor 18% of respondents, the key purpose was cheaper treatment\u201d which implies mutual exclusivity. \n<i><b>Response: <\/b>Figure 3 caption have been updated to clarify that multiple responses were permitted, and percentages may sum to more than 100%.<\/i>  Consider aligning reporting with STROBE (checklist for cross-sectional studies): The manuscript has been reviewed and revised to align with the STROBE checklist for cross-sectional studies. \n<i><b>Response: <\/b><\/i>\n<i>Relevant sections, including study design, participant recruitment, variables, data sources, statistical methods, and limitations, have been updated to improve clarity, transparency, and completeness of reporting.<\/i>  Report exact p values to three decimals where possible (e.g., p = 0.056); use \u201cp &lt; 0.001\u201d for very small values. Replace any \u201cp &lt; 0.5\u201d with the exact value. \n<i>Done<\/i> The Methods say \u201cmeans &plusmn; SD for continuous variables,\u201d but no means are presented. Either (a) present means &plusmn; SD (with normality justification), or (b) revise Methods to reflect medians (IQR) for skewed\/ordinal data. \n<i><b>Response: <\/b><\/i>\n<i>Modification made in methodology<\/i>  Ensure percentages and frequencies follow a single style (e.g., \u201cn (%)\u201d) throughout. \n<i><b>Response: <\/b>Modification done in results<\/i>","URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/14-632\/v2#referee-comment-14967","order":2,"name":"referee-comment-14967","label":"Referee Comment","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"10.5256\/f1000research.191800.r452919, Colleen Aldous, University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, Durban, 04 Feb 2026, version 2, indexed","URL":"https:\/\/f1000research.com\/articles\/14-632\/v2#referee-response-452919","order":3,"name":"referee-response-452919","label":"Referee Report","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"The author(s) declared that no grants were involved in supporting this work","order":4,"name":"grant-information","label":"Grant Information"},{"value":"This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.","order":0,"name":"copyright-info","label":"Copyright"}]}}