RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Deep venous thrombosis (DVT) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among hospitalized patients worldwide and, simultaneously, the most preventable. Studies revealed several risk factors of deep venous thrombosis in hospitalized patients. OBJECTIVE: to identify frequency and factors associated with occurrence of deep venous thrombosis among diabetic patients referred to King Abdulaziz University (KAU) Hospital, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. METHODS: This cross-sectional hospital-based study was conducted from June to December, 2016. All diabetic patients referred to the hospital departments and who were suspected to have deep venous thrombosis (DVT) and subjected to Doppler examination were included in the study. A questionnaire was designed to obtain data about deep venous thrombosis frequency among participants and factors associated with the development of deep venous thrombosis among them. Data was collected through face to face interviews with patients included in the study. We used SPSS version 16 for data analysis through descriptive statistics and Chi-square test. RESULTS: DVT was detected in 14.7 % of the examined patients. There were significant and positive associations between age and DVT (X2=10.13, p=0.03) and between ischemic heart disease and DVT (X2=1.628, p=0.043) with the development of deep venous thrombosis among the studied patients. On the other hand, gender, other comorbidities, history of previous DVT, being bed ridden and using orthopedic casting were not significantly associated with the occurrence of deep venous thrombosis among the participants. CONCLUSION: DVT development rate among the participants was 14.7 %. Aging was significantly associated with DVT occurrence. Most of the studied factors and comorbidities had no significant role in DVT development among participants and only ischemic heart disease was significantly associated with DVT development.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is one of the most widely prevalent diseases in Saudi Arabia. Health education is considered an essential component to improve knowledge and change behavior. People affected by diabetes often have inadequate knowledge about the nature of diabetes, its risk factors and associated complication. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess the awareness of the Arar population with various aspects of diabetes mellitus. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out in Arar city, the capital of the Northern Province of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The study was carried out on Saudi nationals from different age groups that were selected by systematic random sampling. Data was collected by means of personal interview with the participants using a pre-designed questionnaire which was administered by the medical students for each diabetic patient. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 15, using descriptive statistics and Chi-square test. RESULTS: A total of 702 participants were interviewed, among them 201 (28.6%) males and 501 (71.4%) females, and most of them (77.8%) had high educational level, 10.4% were diabetics, 78.9% did not have regular checkup visits to the doctor and 58.5% did not perform any regular exercises, including walking, 60% thought that DM was due to partial or total decrease in insulin secretion and 12.4% thought that it was due to excess sweet eating. Additionally, 48.7% of the respondents thought that lack of exercise and obesity were the major risk factors of DM, 33.2% thought that it was a genetic disease. The majority (86.3) of the participants believed that the treatment of DM was a combination of healthy diet, exercise and medication and more than half (63.1%) said that weight loss and modification of life style were the most important preventive measures of DM. Regarding participants' knowledge about DM complications, 24.5% knew about retinopathy and loss of vision, 8.3% knew about retinopathy, loss of vision, low sensation and numbness in extremities, 24.9% said that symptoms of DM were thirst and frequent urination. CONCLUSION: This study recommends that health policy makers conduct more effective health education sessions to increase knowledge of diabetic patients and their caregivers about diabetes and the importance of compliance with its treatment.
RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: With more than 500,000 new cases annually, human brucellosis is the commonest zoonotic disease worldwide. In some endemic countries, its prevalence is more than 10 per 100,000 population. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the magnitude of the problem and the clinical features, laboratory findings, treatment given and complications seen in children with brucellosis in Najran City, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. METHODS: This is a case-series study by analysis of data of children known or diagnosed to have brucellosis for the last 4 years in Najran City. Data was obtained by reviewing the hospital records of the Maternity and Children Hospital and Najran Armed Forces Hospital in Najran during the period from 2013 to 2017. The statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS version 16.0. Since it was the first report of brucellosis on the study population, we used descriptive statistics (frequency, proportion, mean, and standard deviation) for presenting the findings. RESULTS: We studied 57 diagnosed cases of child brucellosis throughout the past 4 years in Najran, south Saudi Arabia with an average number of about 12 cases per year. Of the cases, 15.8% reported a history of ingestion of raw milk and dairy product and only 1.8% of them reported a history of animal contact while 82.4% confirmed unknown mode of transmission. Fever was the only finding in 36.8%, fever and arthralgia 21.1%, and fever and myalgia 19.3%. Two thirds of the cases were diagnosed by standard agglutination test (SAT). Hepatosplenomegaly was found in 10.5%. Rifampicin was the antibiotic of choice and 70.2% of cases have been cured but 3.5% relapsed and 1.8% died from complications. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest brucellosis be considered in every child living in an endemic area, showing symptoms of fever and having a history of ingestion of raw milk and dairy product and/or animal contact.Prevention should rely on health education of the public about different issues of the disease including boiling raw milk.