<b>Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices toward Salt Intake among Healthcare Professionals in the UAE</b>

Reducing salt intake is a cost-effective strategy to lower the risks of cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, and complications. Healthcare professionals (HCPs), including physicians and nurses, are critical in disseminating proper health and nutritional advice. This study assessed knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward salt consumption among HCPs. A survey-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 607 healthcare professionals in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to assess their knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards salt consumption. The findings indicated satisfactory salt-related knowledge scores (22.3 out of 29) but poor salt-related attitudes and practice scores (1.6 out of 5) and (3.9 out of 13), respectively. Non-Arab health workers had significantly higher salt-related knowledge compared to Arabs (p=0.003), while the latter had significantly higher attitude scores (p&lt;0.001). Married participants had significantly higher attitude and practice scores than single participants (p=0.004, p=0.015, respectively). Nutritionists/dieticians had the highest knowledge score (p&lt;0.001), while dentists had the highest attitude scores compared to other participants (p&lt;0.001). Although HCPs exhibited good salt-related knowledge, disparities between knowledge and practices are notable. Targeted interventions aimed at bridging this gap are crucial for this group.