Type 1 diabetes mellitus among adolescent girls in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia

Background: Diabetes mellitus [DM] is rapidly becoming one of the main health issues among humans in the 21[st] century. The increase in the incidence of type 1 diabetes has been observed as a global public health problem in children and adolescents. This work was conducted aimed to estimate the prevalence of type I diabetes and to describe some related characteristics of cases in a sample of adolescent primary and secondary school girls of Riyadh city, KSA

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted during the academic year 2016-2017. Data were collected via a predesigned and pretested questionnaire to gather the relevant data. The total number of participants was 154 adolescent girls

Results: The overall prevalence of type I diabetes among the studied adolescent girls was 5.2% with Mean[ +/- SD] age was 14.08 [ +/- 3.4]. All diabetic girls were Saudi. Only 25% of the cases were using a hormonal contraception. No smoking history or other chronic diseases was detected among them

Conclusion: The present study establishes the prevalence of type 1 DM among Saudi adolescent girls to be 5.2%. We suggest repeating this study periodically, with concentration on the various possible etiological and risk factors. Also we recommend conducting similar studies in other areas of Saudi Arabia to get more information about Diabetes. Awareness campaigns and continuous medical education is of utmost importance to detect the disease to guard against development of complications

Blood groups as risk factor of hypertension in Arar population, Northern Saudi Arabia

Background: Hypertension is a disease that has a huge impact on the health of communities. Familial patterns of hypertension suggests genetic factor as an another important non-modifiable predisposing factor, and ABO blood group is one of such factors which needs to be investigated in more details

Objective: to evaluate the prevalence of hypertension in various ABO and Rh blood group subjects, and to explore any association between ABO and Rh blood groups with hypertension. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Arar city, Northern Saudi Arabia. It included 312 participants from the general population of Northern Saudi Arabia. Data were collected by a pre-designed online questionnaire which was distributed among the population. It was self-administered, after a brief explanation of the idea of the research. The questionnaire included the clear questions to collect the relevant data

Results: the study included 312 participants 28.8% aged 30-39 years, 26.0% aged 40year or more, 85.3% were females and 79.2% were highly educated. In the studied sample, 38.1% had O blood group, 30.1% had B blood group, 26% had A blood group and 5.8% had AB blood group. About fifth [20.5%] of studied sample had hypertension; from them 20.3% group A, 7.8% AB, 25% B and 46.9% group O. The present study found that there was no significant association between hypertension and blood groups as risk factors [P = 0.274]. Among hypertensive cases 85.9% Rh +ve, 14.1% Rh -ve, there was no significant association between hypertension and Rh factor [P = 489]

Conclusion: The findings of the present study indicated that in Arar city population, we could not find any evidence that particular ABO blood group was more susceptible to develop hypertension

Hyperlipidemia among adults in Arar city, Northern Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study

Background: Excess lipids has been shown to be a risk factor for coronary artery disease, as well as cerebrovascular and peripheral vascular diseases. Hyperlipidemia has become an important public health problem; therefore, it is of great importance to know the level of its modifiable risk factors to prevent its occurrence in the population

Objective: to estimate the prevalence of hyperlipidemia and associated factors and complicationsamong the population aged over 21years in Arar city, Northern Saudi Arabia

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out to find the prevalence of hypercholesterolemia among 480 residents of Arar city. Laboratory and physician diagnosed hyperlipidemia, body mass index; presence of complications among the studied cases was assessed. The significance of association of hyperlipidemia with age, sex, body mass index and hypertension was tested using the chi-squared test

Results: In the studied population, males were 54.2%, 35% were 60 years or more, 32.9% were 40-60 years old, 26.7% were 22-40 years old and only 5.4%were 21 years or less, With mean age [+/- SD] 51.9+/-21.1. The prevalence of Lab. diagnosed hyperlipidemiaamong studied populations was 53.8%. There was significant association between hyperlipidemia and age, sex, family history, smoking, fatty diet, defective muscular exercise including walking, high meat diet, diabetes and BMI group [P<0.05]. However there were no significant correlations with alcohol consumption [P>0.05]. Only 75.2% of cases asked medical advice, it was improvement after treatment in 61.2%. Complications of hyperlipidemia were reported in 34.1% of the studied cases. Ischemic heart was found in 20.2%, myocardial infarction in 7.8%, cerebrovascular stroke in 4.7%, low physical fitness in 1.6% and chronic headache in only 0.8%

Conclusion: The prevalence of hyperlipidemia was high in the studied population. Reported risk factors were age, sex, family history, smoking, fatty diet, defective muscular exercise including walking, high meat diet, diabetes and obesity. Reported complications were ischemic heart and myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular stroke, low physical fitness and chronic headache

Socioeconomic Impacts of Gluten-Free Diet among Saudi Children with Celiac Disease / 대한소아소화기영양학회지

PURPOSE: To determine the socio-economic impact of gluten free diet (GFD) on Saudi children and their families. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted in which an online questionnaire was sent to all families registered in the Saudi celiac patients support group. We included only children (age 18 years of age and younger) with biopsy-confirmed celiac disease (CD). RESULTS: A total of 113 children were included in the final analysis, the median age was 9.9 years; 62.8% were females. One hundred (88.5%) of the participating families reported that GFD food was not easily available in their areas, 17% of them reported that it was not available at all in their area. One hundred and six (93.8%) reported that the price of GFD food was very expensive and 70 (61.9%) families that the diet was heavily affecting their family budget. Significant social difficulties were reported among the participating families and their children including interference with the child's interaction with other children (49.6%), the families' ability to attend social gatherings (60.2%), the families' ability to eat in restaurants (73.5%), and the families' ability to travel (58.4%). CONCLUSION: There is significant negative socio-economic impact of GFD on children with CD & their families. Health care providers should be aware of these psycho-social difficulties and be well trained to provide a proper education and psychological support for these patients and their families.

Clinical Characteristics of Celiac Disease and Dietary Adherence to Gluten-Free Diet among Saudi Children / 대한소아소화기영양학회지

PURPOSE: To describe the clinical characteristics of celiac disease (CD) among Saudi children and to determine the adherence rate to gluten free diet (GFD) and its determinant factors among them. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted, in which all the families registered in the Saudi Celiac Patients Support Group were sent an online survey. Only families with children 18 years of age and younger with biopsy-confirmed CD were included. RESULTS: The median age of the 113 included children was 9.9 years, the median age at symptom onset was 5.5 years and the median age at diagnosis was 7 years, the median time between the presentation and the final diagnosis was 1 year. Sixty two of the involved children were females. Ninety two percent of the patients were symptomatic at the diagnosis while eight percent were asymptomatic. The commonest presenting symptoms included: chronic abdominal pain (59.3%), poor weight gain (54%), abdominal distention, gases, bloating (46.1%) and chronic diarrhea (41.6%). Sixty percent of the involved children were reported to be strictly adherent to GFD. Younger age at diagnosis and shorter duration since the diagnosis were associated with a better adherence rate. CONCLUSION: CD has similar clinical presentations among Saudi children compared to other parts of the ward; however, the adherence to GFD is relatively poor. Younger age at diagnosis and shorter duration since the diagnosis were associated with a better adherence rate.

Efficacy of a single dose intravenous heparin in reducing sheath-thrombus formation during diagnostic angiography: a randomized controlled trial

Femoral arterial sheath thrombosis and distal embolization are well-recognized complications of cardiac catheterization but the occlusion is extremely rare. Heparinized saline flushes are used during diagnostic coronary angiography to prevent thrombus formation within the sheath lumen. However, the use of prophylactic intravenous heparin following the femoral arterial sheath insertion is controversial. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of 2000 units of intravenous heparin bolus in comparison to a saline placebo on the thrombus formation within the arterial sheath during the diagnostic coronary angiography. Eligible patients were randomized to receive either a study drug or placebo at the time of femoral sheath insertion. The sheath was aspirated and flushed for any presence of thrombus after each catheter exchange and at the end of the procedure. Five milliliters of blood were extracted and visualized on clean gauze followed by a saline flush. The primary end-point was the effectiveness of the study drug on reducing the incidence of sheath-thrombus formation. Three hundred and twenty patients were randomized into two arms. Three hundred and four patients were analyzed: 147 patients in heparin arm and 157 patients in placebo arm after exclusion of 13 patients in heparin arm and three in placebo arm because of incomplete reports. The baseline characteristics were similar and sheath-thrombi formation was observed in 20% of the total cohort. Of the heparin arm, 12% [19 patients] developed sheath-thrombus formation, whereas 26% [42 patients] in the placebo arm, p-value = 0.002. An adjusted logistic regression model showed that the only predictor for the sheath-thrombus formation was the study drug [i.e. heparin]. The odds ratio of developing a thrombus in the control arm was 2.5 [95% CI: 1.4-4.5, p = 0.003]. There were no bleeding events observed. The risk of thrombus formation is significant and intravenous heparin significantly reduced thrombus formation during diagnostic coronary angiography, with no excess bleeding events