scholarly journals Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices Toward SARS-COV-2 Infection in the United Arab Emirates Population: An Online Community-Based Cross-Sectional Survey

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamda Musabbah Alremeithi ◽  
Aljazia Khalfan Alghefli ◽  
Rouqyah Almadhani ◽  
Latifa Mohammad Baynouna AlKetbi

Population's preventive practices and self-isolation is determinantal in the prevention and mitigation. This study explored the adult population's knowledge, attitude, and practice toward COVID-19 in UAE between the 4th and 14th of April 2020. The study was a community-based, cross-sectional study using a self-administered electronic questionnaire covering five different aspects: demographics, knowledge, practice, attitude, source, and trust of information, and a patient health questionnaire (PHQ-2) for depression screening. Results were analyzed using frequencies, cross-tabulation, and regression analysis. A total of 1,867 people responded to the survey. The mean age of participants was 36.0 years S.D. 10.8. Males were 19.3% and female (80.7%). Knowledge was significantly better in people with higher educational levels (B 0.17, P-value < 0.001), good preventive practice (B 0.12, P-value < 0.001), and higher perceived risk scores (B 0.053, P-value = 0.025). The best practice scores were shown by participants with older age (B 0.097, P-value < 0.05), with good knowledge (B 0.086, P-value < 0.05), were of non-UAE nationalities (B −0.08, P-value < 0.05), with jobs that cannot be practiced from home, military and health care employees (B −0.104, P-value < 0.05), had a personal history of contact with COVID-19 patients (B 0.053, P-value < 0.05), higher educational levels (B 0.052, P-value < 0.05), and a positive attitude toward taking a vaccine (B 0.088, P-value < 0.05). Depression risk was significantly higher in men, non-UAE nationals, in those with lower knowledge scores, and younger ages. The most followed practices were staying home, handwashing, avoiding social gatherings, limiting three people per vehicle, and avoiding public transportation. The least practiced measures were covering the face while sneezing or coughing and wearing masks. Although staying home was reported by 92.5% of participants, 22.6% mentioned that they were visited by more than two people and visited others in 18.4% during the last week. Social media was the source of information for 82.1% of the participants and most trusted doctors and healthcare providers. Depression risk was present in 18.9% of the participants, and most respondents (89%) agreed that SARS-COV-2 infection would be finally be successfully controlled. An encouraging finding is the willingness of two-third of the participants (64.5%) to take the COVID-19 vaccine and if it was developed, although it was very early in the pandemic. Only 14.6% said they would not take the vaccine, and 20.9% were not sure. The obtained results on knowledge and practices, although satisfactory, could be insufficient to prevent this pandemic from being contained. Therefore, we recommend the intensification of awareness programs and good practices. In addition, mental health is an area worth further studies.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamda Musabbah Alremeithi ◽  
Aljazia Khalfan Alghefli ◽  
Rouqyah Almadhani ◽  
Latifa Baynouna AlKetbi

AbstractIn the current situation involving the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the disease containment depends mainly on the population’s preventive practices and self-isolation. In this study, we explored the adult population’s approach towards COVID-19 in UAE between the 4th and 14th of April 2020. We used a community-based, cross-sectional study using a self-administered electronic questionnaire covering five different aspects: demographics, knowledge, practice, attitude, source and trust of information, and a patient health questionnaire (PHQ-2) for depression screening. A total of 1,867 people responded to the survey. Knowledge results were better in people with higher education levels, non-UAE nationals, those with a higher PHQ-2 score, or with a positive contact history with a SARS-COV-2 infected patient. The best practice scores were shown by participants with high knowledge scores and education levels. Depression risk was significantly higher in men, non-UAE nationals, in those with lower knowledge scores, and younger ages. The most followed practices were staying home, handwashing, avoiding social gatherings, limiting three people per vehicle, and avoiding public transportation. The least practiced measures were covering the face while sneezing or coughing and wearing masks. Although staying home was reported by 92.5% of participants, 22.6% mentioned that they were visited by more than 2 people and visited others in 18.4% during the last week. Social media was the source of information for 82.1% of the participants, and most trusted doctors and healthcare providers. A depression risk was present in 18.9% of the participants and the majority of respondents agreed that SARS-COV-2 infection will finally be successfully controlled. The obtained results on knowledge and practices, although satisfactory, could be insufficient to prevent this pandemic from being contained. We recommend the intensification of awareness programs and good practices. Mental health is an area worth further studies.


2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. p167
Author(s):  
Walid Samarah ◽  
Isam Bsisu ◽  
Qusai Al-Masad ◽  
Bushra Maaqbeh ◽  
Leen Younis ◽  
...  

Background: Pain relief in labor is considered an important concern in the management of pregnant females in childbirth. The aim of this study is to assess the knowledge and attitudes of Jordanian females towards various regional analgesic techniques. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey on 652 Jordanian women with a mean age of 32.9 (±8.17). Data collection took place at the gynecological and obstetrics clinics between December, 2017 and September, 2018. Results: Subjects with higher educational levels tend to have better knowledge about regional analgesia (p-value = 0.003), are less likely to ask for general anesthesia (GA) (p < 0.001), and have more previous regional analgesia 47.9% (p < 0.001). Moreover, multiparous women had better knowledge about regional analgesia and higher tendency to ask for it as an efficacious analgesic method during delivery (p < 0.05). Conclusions: In conclusion, even though higher educational levels and multiparty were significantly associated with better knowledge and acceptance rate of regional analgesia, sources of information about regional analgesia plays an important role, emphasizing on the significant role of anesthesiologists and obstetricians in increasing the awareness levels in our society.


2021 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-49
Author(s):  
A.A. Gobir ◽  
A.A. Aliyu ◽  
A.A. Abubakar ◽  
C. Esekhaigbe ◽  
I.A. Joshua ◽  
...  

Background: Tree cutting is one of the causes of climate change and a common practice in Africa, a continent under significant threat from climate change. Therefore, climate change awareness and mitigation are vital to reducing its impacts in the region. Reforestation through planting of trees is an important carbon emission reduction strategy. This study assessed climate change awareness and related tree planting practices among household heads in a Nigerian rural community.Methods: A community-based descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted in April 2019 among all household heads in Nasarawan Buhari community. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from the 104 household heads (or their representatives). Data was analyzed using SPSS (version 21.0) and statistical significance was set at p value of < 0.05.Results: The mean age of respondents was 40.6±12.6 years, and most of them (87.5%) were males. Half (50.0%) were aware of climate change, and their main source of information was radio (63.5%). Most (98.1%) used fire wood for cooking. Only a minority (27.9%) planted at least a tree in the year preceding the study. There was a statistically significant association between climate change awareness and occupation (p=0.038) but not with tree planting (p=0.827).Conclusion: The results indicated that only half of respondents were aware of climate change. There was high use of wood as cooking fuel with low tree planting. Tree planting was not associated with climate change awareness. There is therefore a need for continuous climate change education and mitigation campaign in the community.


Author(s):  
Kavita Kunhipurayil ◽  
Manissha Srivastav

Background: Child health and growth deteriorate as a result of inadequate quantities and frequencies of complementary feeding.Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in urban field practice area of a tertiary medical college hospital among 280 children by systematic random sampling method. Children belonging to 12-23 months were included while sick child, children whose mother/guardian did not give consent were excluded.Results: The proportion of children who met the minimum dietary diversity (MDD) and minimum meal frequency (MMF) were 52.8 % (95% CI) and 52% (95% CI), respectively. Out of 280 children, 90 i.e. (32.1 %) children had achieved the recommended Minimum acceptable diet (MAD). Maternal education (Chi square value=11.2; CI 95%); socioeconomic status (Chi square value=57.4; CI 95%) were positively associated with dietary diversity. Higher percentage of male children (44.8 %) achieved minimum acceptable diet as compared to female children (20.5%); (chi square value=18.8, CI 95%). The percentage of children receiving MDD and MMF was more among children of higher socioeconomic class (p value 0.0001) and from nuclear family (p value=0.45). The birth order of the child was inversely related to the attainment of MAD. (p value=0.0001).Conclusions: Results of the study strongly suggest that poor dietary diversity and meal frequency is associated with numerous factors and their interplay is a multitude of combinations rather than a single cause.  


Author(s):  
T. Kasso ◽  
I. L. Oboro ◽  
O. Maduka ◽  
A. T. O. Awopeju ◽  
N. I. Paul ◽  
...  

Background: Malaria is a serious public health problem in developing countries with Africa bearing most of its burden. Pregnant women are more susceptible to malaria and it is one of the leading causes of maternal and perinatal mortality/morbidity. Use of effective malaria preventive measures during pregnancy reduces its burden and complications. Aim: This was to determine malaria preventive practices used by pregnant women in Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria. Materials and Methods: It was a cross sectional study of pregnant women attending public and private health facilities in Akwa Ibom state. An informed written consent was obtained from the participants. Stratified sampling method was used in selecting the health facilities and the study participants. Information was obtained with pretested questionnaires by trained personnel with the aid of Open Data Kit (ODK) on android phones. Data was managed with SPSS 22.0 and P-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: There were 935 participants in the study. Their mean age was 28.52 ± 5.09 years with 879 (94.0%) being married. Most had secondary and tertiary degrees: 451(48.2%) and 440(47.1%). Majority of them were traders/business women and self-employed (58.2%) while 7% were unemployed. Malaria preventive practices were use of window net, bed net and insecticides accounting for 659(71%), 447(48.2%) and 207(22.3%) respectively. There were 612 (65.5%) participants that received malaria drugs for prevention with 452(73.9%) receiving Intermittent Preventive Treatment in Pregnancy (IPTp) with Sulfadoxine-Pyrimethamine (SP). Only 296 (31.7%) of them slept under bed nets the night before the interview. Conclusion: Common preventive practices employed by pregnant women were IPTp with SP, window nets, ITNs and modified IRS. Majority of the women utilized widow nets, though not as effective as ITNs. Efforts should be intensified concerning awareness creation about the benefits of ITN use during pregnancy.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Assaye Belay Gelaw ◽  
Solomon Abebaw Andargie

Abstract Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and it is the most important of public health problem worldwide. A critical element in tackling the COVID-19 crisis is personal behavioral change; however, there is a paucity of evidence about peoples’ awareness towards COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, the aim of this was to assess the community’s awareness status towards COVID-19 in Sheka, Southwestern Ethiopia.Methods: Community-based cross-sectional study was conducted 10th to 21th April 2020. Four hundred-nineteen individuals participated during the study. Both univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were used to identify significant factors of awareness status, and variables with p-value<0.05 indicated it significantly influences the awareness status of the individuals towards COVID-19.Results: According to the study’s results, nearly half (49.4 %) of the participants had awareness about COVID-19 pandemic. Factors such being female equal (AOR: 0.476, 95%CI: 0.293, 0.772),education being secondary and above(AOR:2.178,95%CI:1.323,3.586),and prevention methods being fully used (AOR,8.127,95%CI: 1.273, 51.871)were significantly influencing the awareness status of the community towards COVID-19 pandemic than their counterparts.Conclusion: The study showed that there is a low awareness status among people towards COVID-19.Hence, programs to improve awareness towards COVID-19 pandemic is essential to prevent and control the pandemic.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomas Tefera ◽  
Semere Sileshi Belda ◽  
Mulusew Teshome Alemayehu ◽  
Mohammedawel Abduku Hussein ◽  
Mekonnen Tegegne Haile ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: In Ethiopia, stunting is one of the most important public health problems. It affects human capital and productivity in several dimensions like impairing learning potential, increased economic costs to health systems and families. Hence, this study was aimed to determine the prevalence and factors associated with stunting among children 6-59months in pastoralist communities of Bale Zone, south-east Ethiopia. Methods: A community- based cross-sectional study design was executed involving 657 children paired with their mothers. A structured questionnaire was administered. Anthropometry was conducted on children following standard procedures. A stepwise logistic regression with backward elimination method was used to identify factors associated stunting. Adjusted odd ratios with 95% confidence interval and p-value of ≤ 0.05 were used to assess level of significance. Results: prevalence of stunting was 43.2 (95% CI: 39.9–47.5). Male children (AOR=3.5, 95%CI, 1.59 -7.71), mothers with primary education level (AOR=8.8 ,95%CI, 7.36 -9.19), and bottle feeding practice (AOR: 3.7, 95%CI, 1.74 -7.69) were positively associated with child stunting, whereas colostrum’s feeding practice(AOR:0.14, 95% CI, 0.06 -0.32),improved source of drinking water(AOR=0.3, 95%CI: 0.11-0.71), exclusively breast feeding (AOR: 0.4 [95%CI, 0.20 -0.92), timely of complimentary feeding initiation(AOR: 0.04, 95%CI 0.00, 0.01), growth monitoring follow up (AOR=0.3 [95%CI, 0.13 -0.59), were showed negative association. Conclusion: Prevalence of stunting was high. Therefore, due attention has to be given on child nutritional education, safe drinking water supply, and promotion of community-based growth monitoring in order to in order to end stunting in children by 2030.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hsien-Hui Yang ◽  
Chih-Sheng Chen ◽  
Hsin-Yi Lo ◽  
Chien-Yi Ho ◽  
Chia-Hung Kao ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Constitutional medicine was as an example of earlier medicine evidence of Chinese Medicine (CM). CM-Constitutional Questionnaire (CM-CQ) commonly considered as the observed various phenotypes as phenome. However, the comprehensive associations between self-reported disease outcomes and questionnaires of CM-CQ remained uncertain. Methods: Taiwan Biobank has begun the collection of these cancer-free volunteers, aged 30-70 with these questionnaires, self-reported disease history, clinical examinations, and genetic information from 2012 as baseline enrollment. This community-, cross-sectional study was conducted by part of Taiwan Biobank and compared the associations among CM-CQ, which reflect these constitutional variables as individual markers.Results: The present study conducted by using 1,998 volunteers (2 withdraw) from Taiwan Biobank. Which separately assessed the associations among 32 diseases and 44 items of CM-CQ questions using the binomial logistic regression model. There were 6 CM-CQ questions with a significant association of self-reported osteoporosis in all CM-CQ. Interestingly, we found that these 6 CM-CQ questions shown a significant association with osteoporosis, even which adjusted with false discovery rate (adjusted p <0.05). The Q1, Q22, and Q37 demonstrated with considerably adjusted p-value and the other CM-CQ, which involved in Q14, Q16, and Q21 shown borderline relation to self-reported osteoporosis, which was existed less residual effect with smoking and drinking habits. Conclusion: This study generated real-world evidence of national biobank for clarified associations between clinical symptom and self-reported diseases. The exploration of self-reported disease-related CM-CQ for further companion diagnostic indicators via comprehensive community-based Taiwan Biobank study should be a possibility.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wegdan Bani-issa ◽  
Kamal Eldeirawi ◽  
Sondos Harfil ◽  
Randa Fakhry

Background.Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) is a public health concern in adults worldwide. This study aims to explore the extent of VDD and its associated factors among adults in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).Subjects and Methods.Quantitative, cross-sectional research was used to assess VDD and its associated factors in 216 adults recruited from randomly selected community-based healthcare settings over a six-month period. Recent values of vitamin D and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) were abstracted from medical records, followed by interviews with participants to obtain information on factors related to VDD and other covariates and to measure their heights and weights.Results.A total of 74% of participants demonstrated VDD (vitamin D serumlevel≤30 nmol/L). Emirati participants had higher odds of having VDD compared to non-Emiratis (OR: 2.95; 95% CI: 1.58–5.52), with also significantly increased odds of the condition appearing in older, less educated, and employed adults. Diabetes type 2 (HbA1c≥6.5%), depression, and obesity were significantly associated with an increased likelihood of VDD after accounting for other covariates.Conclusion.VDD is a significant problem for UAE adults and requires attention by public health policy makers. Diabetes, obesity, and depression need to be considered when screening for vitamin D.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 1705
Author(s):  
Augusto Anguita-Ruiz ◽  
Esther M. González-Gil ◽  
Azahara I. Rupérez ◽  
Francisco Jesús Llorente-Cantarero ◽  
Belén Pastor-Villaescusa ◽  
...  

Polygenetic risk scores (pGRSs) consisting of adult body mass index (BMI) genetic variants have been widely associated with obesity in children populations. The implication of such obesity pGRSs in the development of cardio-metabolic alterations during childhood as well as their utility for the clinical prediction of pubertal obesity outcomes has been barely investigated otherwise. In the present study, we evaluated the utility of an adult BMI predisposing pGRS for the prediction and pharmacological management of obesity in Spanish children, further investigating its implication in the appearance of cardio-metabolic alterations. For that purpose, we counted on genetics data from three well-characterized children populations (composed of 574, 96 and 124 individuals), following both cross-sectional and longitudinal designs, expanding childhood and puberty. As a result, we demonstrated that the pGRS is strongly associated with childhood BMI Z-Score (B = 1.56, SE = 0.27 and p-value = 1.90 × 10−8), and that could be used as a good predictor of obesity longitudinal trajectories during puberty. On the other hand, we showed that the pGRS is not associated with cardio-metabolic comorbidities in children and that certain environmental factors interact with the genetic predisposition to the disease. Finally, according to the results derived from a weight-reduction metformin intervention in children with obesity, we discarded the utility of the pGRS as a pharmacogenetics marker of metformin response.


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