Assessment of knowledge towards first aid skills of epilepsy among undergraduate health students in Riyadh province of Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional study

•Only 1.6% of the undergraduate health students revealed good knowledge scores.•Advanced aged groups, higher study levels and medicine students were found to be significant predictors of knowledge.•The lowest knowledge was identified with putting something into patients’ mouths during seizures.•22.1% of students did not receive any courses about seizure first-aid measures.•Lectures and books were identified as the most common source of seizure information. Applying proper first-aid measures to patients with seizure episodes plays a vital role in preventing the adverse consequences of seizures. Most previous data focused on teachers, healthcare providers and the general public. This study aimed to assess the knowledge of seizure first-aid measures among undergraduate health students. This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted between May 16 and 31, 2023, with 493 undergraduate health students of Riyadh Province who answered online surveys. The data were collected using the descriptive information form. The chi-square (χ2) test was employed to compare knowledge of seizure first aid between demographic variables. The relationship between knowledge score and independent variables was evaluated using multiple linear regression technique. Only 1.6 % of participants demonstrated good knowledge scores toward seizure first-aid measures. The skill most frequently reported was to remove all harmful objects from their vicinity and loosen the tight clothes around the neck during a seizure; 68.7 % of the participants correctly answered with agreed. Conversely, the skill that received the lowest knowledge score among participants was putting a piece object such as a cloth, wallet, or spoon between the teeth to prevent tongue biting during a seizure; only 37.3 % of the participants correctly answered with disagree. Moreover, participants in the advanced age group, medicine and fifth-year, were found to be significant predictors of knowledge and exhibited better knowledge scores toward seizure first aid measures than their peers (p