scholarly journals COVID-19 Clinical Manifestations & Concerns among the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's 937 Health Hotline Callers in Jeddah

Author(s):  
Khalid Moammer ◽  
Najlaa Ahmed Mandoura

The on-going COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted telehealth as a crucial tool in delivering high quality healthcare with increased efficiency. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia this has been evidently clear with the establishment of the robust Ministry of Health 937 COVID-19 hotline.  The objectives of our study are to describe the clinical patterns of COVID-19, identify the most common concerns of the 937 hotline callers and to identify the associations between the clinical presentation of COVID-19 and risk factors of the patients.through an Analytic Cross-Sectional study design. Results : The average age was 36.8 ± 15.7 years,  61.1% were males and 38.9% were females. 69.3% were Saudi and 30.7% were non-Saudis. 82.5% employed, whilst 17.5% were unemployed.The most commonly reported symptoms were fever, followed by fatigue and cough respectively. With 41.8%, 28.2% and 23.2% of participants reporting those symptoms respectively.  The most significant predictors of developing shortness of breath due to COVID-19 was chronic lung disease OR=5.7pvalue >0.01, chronic kidney disease, OR = 4.8 p value >0.02 and immunocompromised state OR = 19  >0.01. 82% of all calls to the hotline were related to COVID-19 testing, and 11% of all calls resulted in the caller receiving medical counselling and/or treatment without having to make a physical visit to a healthcare provider. Conclusion :  A  well-designed telehealth program can mitigate the need for a physical visit to the emergency room or clinic and as such reduce the load on front-line healthcare workers, reducing transmission and improving outcomes during infectious disease epidemics. It can also provide valuable insights into the presentation and risk factors of a new disease to aid in the prevention, diagnosis, management and control of the disease.

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 68-73
Author(s):  
A.A. Akinbodewa ◽  
O.A. Adejumo ◽  
A. Ogunleye ◽  
T.T. Oluwafemi ◽  
O.A. Lamidi

Background: New evidences reveal significant association of cardiovascular risk factors to development of chronic kidney disease among children and adolescents but there is paucity of data from Africa. Objectives: We examined the association of cardiovascular risk factors to renal dysfunction among Nigerian pediatric subjects. Materials and method: This was a prospective, cross-sectional study of pediatrics aged 2 to 17 years. Blood pressure, body mass index, serum lipids and creatinine were determined. Their glomerular filtration rate was calculated using the revised Schwartz equation. Data was analyzed with SPSS 20. Test of association was by Chi square at P <0.05. Results: We studied 114 children and adolescents. There were 55 (48.2%) males and 59 (51.8%) females with mean age of 8.99±4.26 years. There were 68 (53.5%) children and 53 adolescents (46.5%). Four (3.5%) subjects had proteinuria ≥1+. Renal dysfunction (eGFR <60ml/ min/1.73m2) was found among 9 (7.9%) participants. Renal dysfunction was higher among children than adolescents (13.1% v 1.9%) (p = 0.027). The presence and clustering of risk factors were higher among subjects with renal dysfunction (p value 0.466, 95% CI 0.19-28.3). Low HDL-c (44.4%), prehypertension(22.2%) and overweight (22.2%) were the most prevalent risk factors among those with renal dysfunction. Only age demonstrated relationship to renal dysfunction in terms of mean difference (p value 0.007, 95% CI, 1.125-6.818). Conclusions: The prevalence and clustering of cardiovascular risk factors is higher among children with renal dysfunction. Age showed association  to renal dysfunction. Dyslipidemia and high body mass have propensity to influence the development of pediatric CKD. Keywords: Cardiovascular risk factors, renal dysfunction, association, pediatrics, Nigeria, Africa.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 57-63
Author(s):  
Tuge Temesgen ◽  

Aim The study was conducted to determine the prevalence of hydatidosis, to identify the association between expected risk factors and occurrence of the disease, to investigate economic importance and to evaluate fertility and viability of the hydatid cyst in cattle slaughtered at the abattoir. Materials and Methods A cross-sectional study, which involves both ante-mortem and post-mortem examination, was conducted at Nekemte municipal abattoir from November 2015 to March 2016. Results A total of 355 local cattle breed was randomly sampled and examined for the presence of hydatid cysts in the organs of the animals using the standard meat inspection procedures, 66 (18.6%) animals were found harboring hydatid cysts. Statistical analysis showed that there was a significant difference (p<0.05) between the prevalence of bovine hydatidosis in all risk factors with exception of sex of the animals. Among 207 hydatid cysts recorded, 93 (44.92%) were from lungs, 65 (31.40%) from livers, 4 (1.93%) from heart, 3 (1.44%) from kidney, 1 (0.48%) from spleen and 41 (19.8%) were in two organs from lung and liver. Fifty-seven (57) of these 207 cysts were randomly selected and subjected to fertility and viability test which revealed 19 (33.33%) as fertile, 25 (43.86 %) sterile and 13 (22.81%) calcified. Viability test proved 7 (12.28%) of 19 fertile cysts as viable and 12 (21.05%) of 19 fertile cysts as non-viable. Viability of cysts in different organs revealed that 5 (16.1%) and 2 (10%) of cysts from lungs and liver, respectively. The estimated financial loss during the study period both due to condemnation of organs and an in direct carcass weight loss from hydatidosis was 2,190,143.52 ETB. Conclusion The results of this study revealed that bovine hydatidosis was an economically important disease of cattle which need serious attention for prevention and control actions in and around Nekemte. Hence, establishment of well-equipped standardized abattoirs, prohibition of backyard slaughter, creation of public awareness, deworming and control of stray dogs are of paramount importance.


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 149-156
Author(s):  
Maryann C. Ezeilo ◽  
Godwill A. Engwa ◽  
Romanus I. Iroha ◽  
Damian N. Odimegwu

Background:The lack of a vaccine for Hepatitis C virus (HCV) places children at a high risk of contracting the infection. It becomes necessary to accurately diagnose this infection for proper treatment as well as identifying potential risk factors for effective management.Aim:This study was conceived to assess the test performance of the commonly used Immunochromatographic test (ICT) strip and identify the associated clinical manifestations and risk factors of HCV in children in Enugu Metropolis.Method:A cross-sectional study involving randomly selected 270 children below six years of age was conducted in Enugu Nigeria. The subjects were screened for anti-HCV by ICT and Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) and the demographic, signs and symptoms and risk factors were collected.Results:A total of 50 out of 270 children were positive for anti-HCV with a seropositivity of 18.5%. ICT strip had a very low sensitivity of 38.00% with an accuracy of 88.52% in detecting anti-HCV. The presence of dark urine was associated (p= 0.01) with HCV infection.Conclusion:A seroprevalence of 18.5% of Anti-HCV was found in children below six years old in Enugu metropolis and the performance of ICT in diagnosing HCV infection was poor compared to ELISA.


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 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Kh. Mohammed Almaawi

Objective: To assess CKD prevalence and risk factors including socio-demography among diabetics by estimating GFR rather than serum creatinine (sCr). Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Dec. 15 2019 through Aug. 15 2020, among 800 diabetics attending tertiary diabetes centers, Baghdad. Data was collected by self-administered questionnaire. SPSS was used for data analysis by (mean, standard deviation and T-test) for quantitative variables and (frequency, percentage, Chi-square test and Kappa index) for qualitative variables. P-Value less than 0.05 was considered significant.  Results: 800 diabetics for last 5-40 years, 95.6% with type2. Aged 52.1±13.2 years, with male: female ratio 1.03:1, 63.6% were with no income, sCr level was 0.86±0.3 mg/dl, and eGFR by Cockcroft Gault (CG) and CKD-EPI equations was 100.4±36.5 & 92.2±25.5 ml/min/1.73m2 respectively. CKD prevalence based on sCr, and eGFR assessed by above equations was 13.3%, 20% and 15.9% respectively (p<0.001). Those with CKD were hypertensive, females, and living in peripheries. Conclusions: Diabetic patients, mainly those with risk factors are more likely to develop CKD. It is better to detect CKD intially by estimating the GFR, rather than serum creatinine level alone. Furthermore, using CKD-EPI equation might be better than the CG formula to estimate the GFR.


Author(s):  
Rawia A. Abdelshafie ◽  
Abdalla I. Abdalla Mohamed

Background: The aim of this study was to determine the current conditions of children of the selected area, for the purpose of measuring the new effective health program for schistosomiasis disease eliminations and obtain the prevalence intensity and risk factors of S. haematobium among school children in the study area.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was used to screen school going children of all the ages from five randomly selected schools from Alsuki region. A statistical analysis derived from data formulated based on 1062 samples aged between 6 and 15 years attending the selected schools during the period testing within 6 months were enrolled.Results: The impact of health awareness program was measured usefully and the responded factor for reducing the Schistosomiasis diseases was significantly became less than (0.05). Therefore, the actual qualified fitting degree and applicability was significantly becoming (p value=0.001).Conclusions: This research concluded that the prediction of Schistosomiasis diseases due to the risk Ratio of the collected data for those who did not attended awareness over the people who attended program became (0.248).


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Capai ◽  
Masse ◽  
Gallian ◽  
Souty ◽  
Isnard ◽  
...  

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a major cause of acute hepatitis worldwide. In France, hyperendemic areas including Corsica have an anti-HEV Immunoglobulin G (IgG) prevalence higher than 50%. The aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of anti-HEV IgG in three adult populations in Corsica and the risk factors associated with antibody detection. Between 2017 and 2019, a total of 930 individuals, including 467 blood donors, 393 students or university staff members and 70 patients from general practice, were tested for the presence of anti-HEV IgG using the Wantai HEV IgG enzyme immunoassay kit and filled a questionnaire. The association between seropositivity and potential risk factors was tested with univariate and multivariate analyses. Out of the 930 samples, 52.3% (486/930) were seropositive—54.4% (254/467) among blood donors, 47.6% (187/393) among university students and 64.3% (45/70) among patients of general practice. Three main risk factors were identified: (i) skinning and butchering (Adjusted Odds Ratio aOR = 2.76, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] [1.51–5.37]; p-value < 10−3), (ii) consumption of a local pork live raw sausage (fittonu) (aOR = 1.95 95% CI [1.45–2.64]; p-value = 10−5), and (iii) increasing age (p-value = 0.003). Seropositivity rates between the different populations were homogeneous after age stratification. This cross-sectional study indicates a high anti-HEV IgG seroprevalence in the Corsican adult population, not significantly different between women and men and increasing with age. This serosurvey also showed homogeneity regarding the exposure to HEV among three different types of populations. Finally, we confirmed the endemicity of Corsica with respect to HEV and identified a strong association between consumption of figatellu/fittonu and the practice of skinning and butchering with the detection of anti-HEV IgG.


Author(s):  
Nontokozo Lilian Mbatha ◽  
Kebogile Elizabeth Mokwena ◽  
Sphiwe Madiba

Postnatal depression (PND) remains underdiagnosed and undertreated in different socio-economic backgrounds in South Africa. This study determined the prevalence of and clinical and obstetric risk factors for PND symptoms among HIV positive women in health facilities in a rural health district in South Africa. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale was used to measure PND from 386 women who had delivered a live infant. More than half (58.5%) tested HIV positive during the current pregnancy. The prevalence of PND symptoms was 42.5%. Logistic regression analysis yielded significant associations between clinical and obstetric variables of pre-term baby (p-value < 0.01), baby health status p-value < 0.01), baby hospitalization, (p-value < 0.01), and knowing the baby’s HIV status (p-value = 0.047). Maternal variables associated with PND were level of education (p-value < 0.01), monthly income (p-value < 0.01), and source of income (p-value = 0.05). At multivariate analysis, none of the clinical and obstetrical risk factors were independently associated with the PND. The high prevalence of PND symptoms underscore the need to integrate routine screening for PND in prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV programmes to enable early diagnosing and treatment of PND.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document