Impact of studying medicine in private and governmental faculties on the quality of life among a group of university students in Egypt

Life as a medical student poses particular challenges and stressors which can impact on quality of life. The aim of this study is to measure the QOL [quality of life] among a group of university students in Egypt and to assess the impact of the type of study and private education on their QOL. A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted to include medical [231] and non medical [490] fourth year students from both governmental and private universities using convenient sampling technique. An anonymous self administered questionnaire including socio-economic, and WHOQOL-BREF form was filled by students after taking their consent. QOL among Egyptian university students was relatively low compared to other studies. The highest QOL domain score was the physical [11.98 +/- 2.20] followed by the social [11.58 +/- 3.02], then psychological [11.13 +/- 2.44] and lastly environmental domain [l0.08 +/- 2.49]. Medical study was significantly associated with better QOL in all its domains. Students who studied in governmental university showed higher QOL represented in the social domain only. Further in depth studies are needed to investigate different factors affecting QOL among Egyptian university students

Prevalence of premenstrual syndrome and the effect of its severity on the quality of life among medical students

Premenstrual syndrome is a common health problem affecting females and because of its cyclic occurrence it is postulated to have different effects on quality of life. To estimate the prevalence of menstrual disturbances, and to assess the impact of the severity of premenstrual symptoms on the quality of life of female medical students. A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted on 396 female medical students. A self administered anonymous questionnaire inquiring about symptoms of premenstrual syndrome [PMS] and the quality of life [QOL] using the WHOQOL brief form. The mean age of the respondents was 19.9 years. Results revealed that 89.6% of the participants experienced various degrees of at least one symptom of 21 PM symptoms included in the questionnaire. Ninety five and half percentage have somatic symptoms, mostly in the form of lower abdominal cramp, tiredness, acne and the least common reported symptoms were breast discomfort /nausea and vomiting/ swelling. Ninety five percentage and 92.4% have psychic and behavioral symptoms respectively. A significant negative correlation was observed between physical domain of QOL and behavioral PMS symptoms, also between psychological domain of QOL and both psychological and behavioral PMS symptoms. The prevalence of PM symptoms was high among medical students and it affected their QOL. Health education, appropriate medical treatment and counseling services, as part and parcel of the overall health service, should be provided to the affected female students

Selenium and selected risk factors for pre-eclampsia

A case control study was conducted in Ain Shams University Maternity Hospital postpartum ward. A hundred pregnant women included in the study, 50 with preeclampsia anc 50 healthy pregnant women as a control group. A 5 cc blood sample was taken and centrifuged where the plasma was used to measure the selenium level. Selenium levels were statistically significantly lower in preeclampsia group than the control group irrespective to risk factors included in the study [GA, age, parity, Past history of hypertension, DM]. It was found that the risk decreases by 12% with increase the selenium level by 1 mg/100 cm[3]. Low selenium level could be a risk factor for developing PE. Further studies are needed to assess the effect of dietary habit of the selenium content of different foods on the level of the selenium and its effect on preeclampsia

Anthropometric assessment of infants and children [0-24 months] attending primary health care centres [PHCCs] in Cairo Governorate in comparison to WHO growth reference curve

WHO advises the use of an international standard reference curve for monitoring the growth of infants and children. However, other countries found a discrepancy between their anthropometric measures in comparison to those of the WHO. Therefore, they developed their own growth reference curve [RC]

Objectives: To compare anthropometric parameters of Egyptian infants and children [0-24 months] with those calculated in reference to the WHO standards

Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted at eight PHCCs located at different regions in Cairo Governorate. Data including sex, date of birth, visit date, weight and height were abstracted from the records routinely collected at the PHCCs. Sex specific weight for age, length for age Z scores and percentiles were calculated to our sample and then compared to the WHO growth reference standards

Results: A total of 6656 infants and children were included in our study: 3418 boys and 3238 girls. Below 9 months, the RC assigned a lower proportion of infants as underweight [<-2 Z score] in comparison to our sample. However, from 9 to 24 months the RC allocated a higher proportion of infants and children as underweight than our sample. The same findings were observed in both sexes. On the other hand, the RC considered a higher proportion of infants and children below 2 years as overweight [>+2 Z score] in both sexes in comparison to our sample. Also, the RC assigned a higher proportion of short males in the ages of 6 months, 9, 12 and 18 months in comparison to our sample. In conclusion, disagreement was noticed when comparing our anthropometric measures to those of WHO reference standards consequently, the development of a national Egyptian reference growth curve beside a new international reference curve is mandatory.