Quality Use of Medicines among Makkah Residents, Saudi Arabia

Introduction:Quality Use of Medicines (QUoM) is of utmost importance regarding the safetyand overall healthcare of the consumers/patients. This study aimed to explore the general usage pattern and attitude of the Makkah community about the safe use of medicines i.e. QUoM Methods:Face to face interviewswere done to administer questionnaires among patients from two hospitals and four primary care centers dealing with patients from rural and urban areas in the Holly Makkah region.Results:A total of 554 patients were enrolled while the majority of them were lived in urban areas (n=457,82%). Around 419 (76%) responder were females and 531(96%) were living with their family and had up to college education(n=174,31%).We found that most of the respondents were diabetic(185,33%) and hypertensive (n=172,31%).Most of the patients (207,37%) stated that they preferred to get drug information from healthcare professionals.Conclusion:This periodic mapping of appropriate medication usage among patients/consumers is indeed an important effort to explore issues on QUoM

Mobile phone usage pattern and its health effects among medical students in north Karnataka: an observational study

Background: The mobile phone is viewed as an important communication tool and is an integral part of the human society in the present era. Medical students use smart phones for note taking, imaging, web browsing, text books, question banks etc. Excessive mobile phone use has been found to be associated with health problems such as impaired concentration, headache, fatigue, thermal sensations in and around ear, stress, sleep disturbances and frustration. Objective was to explore the mobile phone usage pattern and its health effects among medical students.Methods: An observational study was conducted among medical students of Belagavi. The calculated sample size was 277 after taking the prevalence of mobile phone usage pattern of 76.4%. The questionnaire consists of socio-demographic characteristics, pattern of mobile phone usage like mode of use, time of maximum use etc. and the health effect variables like headache, restlessness, neck pain, painful fingers etc. Statistical analysis was done using MS-Excel 2007 and SPSS v 22, proportion and chi-square test was applied and p<0.05 was considered significant.Results: 98.19% were using smart phone and 85.56% were having single phone. Maximum were using for 2-4 years (42.60%). Internet was used for academic purpose in 89.89%. Majority of them experienced eyes symptoms (55.23%) followed by sleep deprivation (46.21%) and headache (42.60%).Conclusions: Even though mobile phone has positive role in our daily lives, its overuse leads to negative impact on health, sleep, and academic performance of students.

Awareness and Usage Patterns of Housewives in Busan for Consuming Marine Products

We conducted this study to compare the awareness and attitude of Busan housewives about consuming marine products. The survey was conducted from April 10 to May 31, 2019 by using a questionnaire. The degree of preference of seafood was higher among individuals in their 40s than those in the other age groups. Among the women in their 30s, 40s, 50s and 70s, the reason for liking seafood was ‘taste’, and for those in their 60s it was ‘nutrition’. Overall the most common reason for disliking seafood was the ‘fishy smell (37.4%)’. Conception degree of nutritive value of seafood was higher among individuals in their 30s and 40s than that for those individuals in their 50s, 60s and 70s. As for the price of seafood, the wives over 40s thought seafood was more expensive than did those wives in their 30s. The younger the individuals were, the lower was the perceived degree of safety was 49.8% of the subjects reported that the main concern for purchase was ‘freshness’. The perceived degree of safety for imported seafood was better for the wives in their 60s and 70s than that for those wives in their 30s, 40s and 50s. The confidence level for local Korean seafood was higher for the wives in their 60s than that for the wives in their 50s. The degree of preference for seafood was moderate overall, except for Jellyfish. Age was positively correlated with conception for safety and dietary attitude (P<0.01), whereas age was negatively correlated with monthly food expenditure, nutrition knowledge and intake requirements (P<0.01). Preference for seafood was positively correlated with conception for safety (P<0.05), nutrition knowledge (P<0.05), dietary attitude (P<0.01), awareness for nutritive value (P<0.01) and intake requirements (P<0.01). Laws and regulations should be reinforced in order to promote eating more seafood and periodic research to determine the actual amount of consumed seafood and people's preferences should be conducted.

Comparison of Perception and Fast Food Usage Patterns of Adults Classified by Age in Busan

This study was conducted to compare the perception and fast food usage patterns of adults classified by age in Busan. The survey was conducted from April 15 to June 15, 2017 by questionnaires and the data were analyzed using SPSS 24.0 Overall, 74.1%, 58.1%, 40.7%, 20.3%, 29.7% and 17.9% of individuals in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s, respectively, consumed fast foods more than once a week. Additionally, 66.0%, 52.5%, 25.7%, 16.0%, 22.9% and 11.7% of individuals in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s, respectively, preferred fast foods. There was a significant difference in the basis for choosing menu among the groups, with 'preference' and 'price' being most important to those in their 20s and 30s, on the other hand 'preference' and 'companion' being most important to members of other age groups. As their age increased, individuals spent less money on fast food. Overall, 81.5%, 59.9%, 50.0%, 40.1%, 46.3%, and 28.4% of individuals in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s thought that fast food was a suitable substitute for a meal. Age affected the substitutability of fast food for a meal (P<0.001). Additionally, the ratio of individuals in their 20s and 30s that skipped breakfast was higher than in other age groups. In addition, age showed a significant positive correlation with obesity and dietary attitude, whereas it showed a negative correlation with nutrition knowledge, use frequency, perception degree and preference. Nutrition knowledge and dietary attitude showed no relationship with preference. These results imply that a nutrition education program should be developed and conducted to induce subjects to manage their dietary habit and develop healthier dietary patterns.