ABSTRACT
Background: Diabetes mellitus [DM] is a major health problem that is associated with psychological, as well as physical, complications particularly depression. Depression is well-known to be prevalent among diabetic patients and to be associated with poor glycemic control, poor adherence to medication, increased diabetic complication and higher risk of mortality
Objectives: The purpose of the study is to determine the prevalence rate of depression among diabetic patients in primary health care units and diabetic centers at Makkah city - Saudi Arabia, and to explore the associated factors that co-exist with depression among diabetic patients
Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted on 382 diabetic patients [both type I and II] recruited from diabetic centers at Al-Noor hospital, Hera'a hospital, and East of Al-aziziah hospital in Makkah, KSA. Data were collected via a self-administered questionnaire including demographic variables and the Arabic translation of Patient health questionnaire the Tunisian version [PHQ-9]. The data collected were analyzed using SAS 9.4
Results: After data analysis of the 382 participants 43.19% were males and 56.81% were females, with a mean age of 50.28+/-11.43 years. The prevalence of depression was 20.68%, with 12.83%, 7.07%, and 0.79% having moderate, moderately severe, and severe depression, respectively. Hypertension, duration of hypertension, number of co-morbidities, and high education level were significantly associated with depression [p=0.0111, 0.0029, 0.0491, and 0.0158, respectively]. The odd's ratio of number of co-morbidities was 1.565 [p=0.0039]
Conclusions: Depression and suicidality are prevalent among diabetic patients in Makkah. When diabetes co-exists with hypertension and/or other comorbid illnesses the prevalent doubles. Hypertension, increased number of associated co-morbidities, and high educational level are significantly associated with depression in diabetic patients
ABSTRACT
Objective: We investigated the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among visitors to Faith Healers [FHs] in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. We also studied the sociodemographic profiles for these visitors, in addition to their past psychiatric history, reason[s] for seeking FH help, and past and current treatment experience with FHs
Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among the visitors [n=321] to a number of faith healing settings in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia using a specially designed questionnaire and validated Arabic version of The Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview
Results: Most of the participants were young adults [35.1 +/-10.8 years] and males with intermediate and secondary levels of education who had not sought medical help prior to their visits
A high proportion of the FH visitors have diagnosable mental illnesses. Depressive and anxiety disorders were the most prevalent among the study participants; few visitors were affected by psychotic or bipolar disorders
Conclusions: The present study provides insight for understanding the type of patients with psychiatric disorders who visit Faith Healers.[FHs]
The study highlights the tendency of psychiatric patients in Saudi Arabia to visit FHs, which could reflect the importance of further studies to clarify the impact of FHs on the management of those patients
ABSTRACT
To examine the variability in accepting different types of gifts by clinical specialty as well as job rank among physicians working in Saudi Arabia. This cross-sectional study was carried out between March and July of 2012 in different regions of Saudi Arabia. A self-administrated questionnaire was developed and administered to all participants, both in paper and electronic formats. A total of 281 participants answered the question "do you accept pharmaceutical gifts and/or promotions?" Most of the participants [80.1%] admitted acceptance of pharmaceutical gifts of any type. The most common gifts accepted were free drug samples [58.2%], stationary items such as pens and notepads [52.9%], free meals [37.8%], financial support to attend educational activities [33.3%], prepaid promotion cards/codes [7.1%], and funding research [5.8%]. While there were no significant differences in the overall gift acceptance by job rank or specialty, there were significant differences in type-specific gift acceptance by job rank and specialty. There were some differences in the reasons behind gift acceptance by specialty and job rank. The results of this study indicate that gift acceptance among physicians working in Saudi Arabia is common; however, there was no significant differences in the overall gift acceptance by job rank or specialty. Nevertheless, there were significant differences in type-specific gift acceptance by job rank and specialty