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aimaa Hani Fouad11Department of Internal Medicine/Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Ain-Shams University, Cairo, Egypt; 2Department of Clinical Pathology, Ain-Shams University, Cairo, Egypt; 3Department of Pulmonology, Ain Shams University, Cairo, EgyptCorrespondence: Shaimaa Hani FouadDepartment of Internal Medicine/ Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Ain Shams University, Abbasia, Cairo, 11566, EgyptTel/Fax +202 24346888; Tel +2 01116110004Email [email protected] Background: Selective immunoglobulin A (IgA) deficiency is characterized by a high incidence of both recurrent infections and atopic diseases. Asthma is one of the most common lung diseases affecting around 300 million people worldwide and is associated with risk of serious pneumococcal disease and microbial infections. Multiple studies have attributed this to impaired innate and adaptive immunity in asthmatics. An additional probable hypothesis is the existence of an underlying primary immunodeficiency (PID), such as selective IgA deficiency (sIgAD). Aim: To assess the prevalence of selective IgA deficiency and its correlation to recurrent infections in asthmatic patients. Methods: A case–control study was conducted on 80 subjects who were divided into 3 groups: 20 Asthmatic patients with recurrent chest infections (Group A), 20 asthmatic patients without recurrent chest infections (Group B) and 40 healthy controls (Group C). Results: On comparing the 3 studied groups, there was a statistically significant difference between the three groups (p = ˂0.001) concerning serum IgA. The mean serum IgA was statistically significantly lower in Group A&B than in Group C. Furthermore, it was significantly lower in Group A than in Group B and C (p1,2 < 0.002 and < 0.001*, respectively). The percentage of selective IgA deficiency or partial IgA deficiency in asthmatic patients was 56% (26 patients). Group A showed a statistically significant higher percentage of selective/partial IgA deficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Urinary incontinence (UI) is a common disorder that particularly affects the elderly population worldwide. UI can be associated with poor quality of life (QOL) of this vulnerable population, as it leads to the limitation of their physical and social activities of daily life. Additionally, it has a psychological and economic burden on individuals, health care services and society. Objectives: This study was performed to measure the frequency of UI and to determine its impact on the overall QOL of elderly, physical performance and activities of daily living. Participants and Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed on attending the four Primary Health Care centres (PHCs) of El-Obour City. Data collection was done in randomly chosen days every week. All elders aged 60 or above, who attended the PHCs those days, were included until a sample size of 150 elderly was obtained. The International Consultation of Incontinence (ICIQ) was used to detect urinary incontinence, assess its type and severity while, SF-12 was used to assess quality of life (QOL) with its mental and physical components. All study participants underwent short physical performance battery balance, gait and chair tests Results: The overall frequency of UI was 38% among the studied elderly. UI ranged from mild (12.3%) to moderate (57.9%) and severe (29.8%). Among incontinent participants, the frequency in men was 47.4% and in women was 52.6%. The frequency of stress, urge, mixed and other UI were 7%, 33.3%, 40.4% and 19.3% respectively. Incontinent elderly had significantly lower QOL as regards mental and physical indices than their continent counterparts. UI severity was inversely related to physical performance. Conclusion and recommendation: UI has a high-frequency rate among the elderly population, and it has a significant impact on all QOL domains as well as on their physical performance. It is recommended to set up management plans and strategies in geriatric health care facilities to prevent UI and its impact on the physical and mental health of this vulnerable population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]