Search

Background: Hypertension (HTN) is a major global public health problem. Knowledge of the risk factors and repercussions of HTN is crucial to preventing the disease. Rural populations have lower levels of knowledge of the disease than urban populations. However, no studies have assessed the levels of awareness of HTN and their determinants in rural regions of Saudi Arabia. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the awareness of HTN and its determinants among a rural population of Jazan region, Saudi Arabia. Methodology: We conducted a cross-sectional analytical study among six primary healthcare centers selected randomly from the rural areas of Jazan region. We targeted all Saudi adults visiting these centers. Information was gathered using interview questionnaires completed by 607 people. SPSS was utilized to analyze the collected data. Results: In all population groups, the prevalence of diagnosed HTN increased with age, particularly gradually increasing in those aged younger than 40 years and then rapidly and sharply increasing in those aged 40 years and over. The women (43.3%) had a higher prevalence of HTN than the men (34.6%), which is comparable with findings in other areas in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. Approximately 65.6% of the participants without HTN and 34.4% of the participants with HTN did not know their normal blood pressure. Approximately 61.7% of the participants without HTN and 59.0% of the participants with HTN felt that pharmaceuticals are insufficient in curing HTN, while 60.7% and 64.7% believed that HTN can be cured. Conclusions: The global prevalence of HTN is increasing annually owing to rapid changes in lifestyle and dietary habits. Furthermore, because adherence to antihypertensives is poor in rural Jazan, the Ministry of Health and researchers advocate implementing a program to increase awareness and assess patient adherence to prescribed medication for the control of HTN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oral-health professionals play a critical role in the early recognition and prevention of oral cancer; however, most patients are diagnosed in the advanced stages that demonstrate poor prognosis. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the knowledge, opinions, and clinical practices of practicing dentists related to oral cancer prevention and oral mucosal screening in Palestine. This research used an online cross-sectional questionnaire design. Practicing dentists in Palestine completed the 44-item questionnaire encompassing the following four sections: (a) personal data (6 items); (b) oral cancer knowledge (21 items); (c) opinions and beliefs related to oral cancer (10 items); and (d) clinical practices related to oral cancer (7 items). The questionnaire was sent to all eligible participants (N = 650) between July and September of 2022. The response rate was 39.1% (N = 254). About 70.1% of the respondents had poor knowledge of oral cancer and its risk factors, and almost 84.3% had positive opinions related to oral cancer prevention and oral mucosal screening. Concerning the clinical practices, only 29.9% routinely examined their patients every time their patients visited. More experienced dentists showed significantly more positive opinions and better clinical practices related to oral cancer prevention and screening; however, they had significantly lower knowledge scores compared with the younger dentists (p < 0.05). Inadequate training was the most reported perceived boundary against routine oral cancer screening. Palestinian dentists appeared to have positive opinions related to oral cancer prevention and oral mucosal screening. However, the assessment of the knowledge and clinical practices revealed deficiencies in this regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To augment the international scientific approach to raising public mental health through active lifestyle among adults, we added the evidence of the association between physical activity and subjective wellbeing in the Middle East and North Africa region by emphasizing the mediator—COVID-19. This study aimed to identify the correlations between active mobility and subjective wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic in a sample from Tabriz, Iran, which has not yet been tackled in previous study. Methods: We finalized an online survey (N = 603) from adults between 5 June and 15 July 2021. This group reported their individual and socio-economic characteristics and their perception features and location (e.g., home, work) during COVID-19. The paper developed three ordinal logistic regression (OLR) models to examine the association between active mobility types such as commute, non-commute, frequency of active travel to parks and services per week, and different subjective wellbeing including: 1- life satisfaction, 2- feeling energetic, and 3- peaceful mind while controlling for socio-economic variables (e.g., age, gender, education, job, and income) and objective commute distance. We also incorporated the most relevant objective (street length, land-use mix, number of intersections, and building and population density) and subjective (perceived distance to different services, perceived walking places, and perceived facilities attractiveness) factors. Results: Positive response relationships between four types of physical activity levels and subjective wellbeing scores were demonstrated in all of the three developed models (with significant levels of 0.05, and 0.1) with appropriate model fits, which confirmed the existing literature. However, these relationships showed different patterns (varied significant levels) for each type of subjective wellbeing. In addition, the factors including street length (p value: 0.004), perceived walkable places (p value: 0.021, 0.068, 0.017, and 0.025) (positively), population density, and perceived distance to shopping malls (p value: 0.076, <0.0001, and 0.059 (negatively) were associated with different indicators of subjective wellbeing. Conclusion: As for the implication of our study, special actions by urban authorities such as increasing mixed-use and creating attractive places will be required to enhance the walkability of the neighborhoods. Moreover, notifying the adults regarding the benefits of physical activity is much more needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Tumor recurrence is a relatively common event in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC). The aim of this study was to analyze the time-varying pattern of recurrence in PTC using annual hazard function and establish a predictive model for early and late recurrences. We found a double-peaked pattern of annual hazard of recurrence, with the risk being highest during the first 5 years after surgery. We also found distinct clinico-pathological parameters that could independently predict the occurrence of early recurrence (first 5 years) as compared to late recurrence (after 5 years). Overall, this study highlights the importance of long-term follow-up of PTC patients. Furthermore, the findings of our study could help in establishing individualized treatment and surveillance plans in PTC patients. Predicting the pattern of recurrence in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is necessary to establish optimal surveillance and treatment strategies. We analyzed changes in hazard rate (HR) for tumor recurrence over time in 1201 unselected Middle Eastern PTC patients. The changes in risk were further analyzed according to clinical variables predictive of early (≤5 years) and late (>5 years) recurrence using Cox regression analysis to identify patient populations that remain at risk. Tumor recurrence was noted in 18.4% (221/1201) patients. The annualized hazard of PTC recurrence was highest during the first 5 years (2.8%), peaking between 1 and 2 years (3.7%), with a second smaller peak between 13 and 14 years (3.2%). Patients receiving radioactive iodine (RAI) therapy had lower recurrence hazard compared to those who did not (1.5% vs. 2.7%, p = 0.0001). Importantly, this difference was significant even in intermediate-risk PTC patients (0.7% vs. 2.3%; p = 0.0001). Interestingly, patients aged ≥55 years and having lymph node metastasis were at persistent risk for late recurrence. In conclusion, we confirmed the validity of the double-peaked time-varying pattern for recurrence risk in Middle Eastern PTC patients and our findings could help in formulating individualized treatment and surveillance plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]