ABSTRACT
Introduction:During Hajj and Umrah season, asthma-related acute admissions produce the enormous burden on healthcare facilities and causes delay in admissions for more severe cases, e.g. myocardial infarction,cardiac failureand severe trauma cases. Therefore, the snapshot of asthma-related admissions during the Hajj and Umrah season was determined by asthma-related admissions and medication use and economic burden during Hajj and Umrah pilgrimage season. Methodology:All asthma-related admissions during the month of Ramadan (fasting month) and Hajj pilgrimage were assessed from patients’data retrospectively. The convenience sampling strategy was used to retrievestudy variables. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Version 22.0 was used to analyze the data.Results:A total of 271 patients were selected as per inclusion criteria, the majority of them were males 153 (56.5%), while most of them were Saudi 70 (35.8%) and Egyptians 86 (31.7%). During hospitalization, the common treatment for acute exacerbations was inhaled corticosteroids 224 (86.3%), IV corticosteroids 129 (47.6%), Inhaled short-acting beta-agonists 244 (90%) and inhaled bronchodilators (ipratropium bromide) 237(87.5 5%). Conclusion:This periodic mapping of asthma-related admissions and its management during these massive gathering events is indeed a significant effort to explore issues of acute asthma exacerbations management and to provide information to plan for future interventions and policies.
ABSTRACT
A cross sectional study was conducted on the children of 146 randomly selected urban families of Abha, Saudi Arabia, to find out the common factors associated with caries teeth. The factors considered for association were per capita monthly income, sources of drinking water, consumption of soft drinks, daily brushing of teeth, daily consumption of candy, and the education levels of mothers. All children up to 12 years of age were examined by visiting their families. The results showed that the per capita monthly income, sources of drinking water and habit of drinking soft drinks had no significant relation with the prevalence rates of caries teeth in children. But the habit of nonbrushing of teeth daily, daily consumption of candies, and low or no education of mothers had significant association with the presence of caries teeth. Adequate health education of children about the ill effects of these practices and raising the educational levels of mothers and prospective mothers may contribute towards achieving dental health by the year 2000 as targetted by the World Health Organization.